INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: When Justice Takes a Back Seat in Pakistan

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Zofeen T. Ebrahim

KARACHI, Pakistan, Mar 8 2005 (IPS) - Just when the world is all primed to commemorate International Women’s Day, Pakistan has little reason to join in these celebrations as it holds its head down in shame.

Just when the world is all primed to commemorate International Women’s Day, which falls on Mar. 8, Pakistan has little reason to join in these celebrations as it holds its head down in shame.

The verdict by the Lahore High Court acquitting five of the six men convicted in the gang- rape of 30-year-old Mukhtaran Mai in the hamlet of Meerwala – on the orders of village elders – has put a stain on the ‘softer image’ that Pakistan is trying to project to the international community.

While Pakistan’s Minister for Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar was telling thousands of delegates gathered recently in New York – to review progress in the 10 years since the U.N. women’s conference in Beijing – that a bill had been tabled in parliament classifying criminal acts ”committed in the name of honour” as premeditated murder, it was a black justice day for Mai.

In June 2002, Mai was publicly raped on the orders of the Meerwala council as punishment for her brother who allegedly had illicit sexual relations with a woman from a rival tribe, the Mastoi.

According to ‘The New York Times’ it was later disclosed that Mastoi men had molested Mai’s brother and they tried to cover up the incident by accusing him of having illicit relations with a woman from their tribe. Efforts to settle the dispute had failed and the Mastoi, angry at what they considered a violation of their honour, had demanded revenge, which they took in the form of gang rape.

But last week, the Lahore High Court overturned the verdict against the men. Five of the six were acquitted. The sixth accused had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. The court ruled that the evidence produced before the trial court was insufficient and police investigations were faulty.

”I’m very disappointed with the verdict,” said Mai at a press conference arranged by a human rights group. ”My family’s and my life is in danger now.”

Tasneem Ahmar, a woman activist and director of Uks, a media-based research organisation, was visibly unhappy at the press conference.

”This is a black mark for Pakistan. We were not expecting this decision,” said Ahmar. ”But she (Mai) is a very brave and determined woman.”

Despite several offers of safe relocation Mai is determined to stay in her village in Meerwala and fight her case to the end.

Since the initial trial, Mai said, she had faced harassment and death threats from the Mastoi.

The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has announced the government’s decision to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Incidents of gang rape are not uncommon in Pakistan, but this case gained international prominence because the assault had been ordered by the panchayat or village council – a vestige of a centuries-old feudal system.

Kamila Hayat, joint director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, blames the state legal system for the foul-up last week.

”It is the duty of the state to have ensured a proper investigation into the case, rather than allow large loopholes as identified by the Lahore High Court to remain open,” Hayat told IPS.

”This also signals a lack of commitment on the part of the state in checking crimes against women, as such precedents can only encourage more atrocities,” added the rights activist. ”The victim must not be made to suffer for omissions made by the authorities.”

A strongly worded editorial of the ‘Daily Times’, a Lahore-based English daily, challenged the government by asking why the police was ”unable to put together the evidence to clinch a decision in its favour when the rape happened publicly”.

While the judgment cannot be imputed as wrong, Zubeida Mustafa, a senior journalist, feels: ”It’s a sad day for those who have struggled for women’s rights and against the indignities meted out to women.”

She told IPS of the need to ”pull up the police and the system for not being able to produce the witnesses (probably people are too scared to come forward and speak up).”

Zohra Yusuf, a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said last week’s High Court ruling showed how the judicial system is stacked up against women.

”Such a judgment sends a signal to rapists that they could get off scot-free,” she pointed out. ”The government continues to appease the conservative elements, for example in turning down amendments in the honour killing bill,” said Yusuf scathingly.

Fearing for Mai’s life, she added: ”She is now more vulnerable and will only persevere with support from human rights groups.”

In the meantime, Mai unbowed by threats from the Mastoi has gone back to teach at the village school she built.