Saturday, November 7, 2009

Society and Shame



Hey all i would love to get some feedback from you on the current level of recognition and acceptance of domestic violence in our society.
Have things changed?
How do we change societys attitude to domestic violence?
Why is there still such stigma and judgement of those in need?
Its still a dirty word.. i hate that.... i hate cowards and i dont understand HOW domestic violence is not tackled head on in government, discussed openly with no shame.
-Maham Masood & Zainab Sohail

24 comments:

Pakistani Jails said...

comment by naiha and sheikh
domestic violence prevails in pakistan bcoz of male chovenism...and the demoralised, xcepted failure and degraded state of women. women shuld realise their position and fite against it.government should support them to help gain their rites.

Iqra Arshad said...

its not about cowardness . but more about the culture which we are following on our country.

Pakistani Jails said...

Saad and Ahsan:- Domestic violence in pakistan has risen and this is because of the increasing standard of living as inflation has risen over the years and this has forced the poor people to be involved in crimes and Pakistan is already preoccupied in dealing with terrorist activities so it could not prevent the increase in crimes.

Pakistani Jails said...
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Pakistani Jails said...

Comment by iqra:domestic violence has long prevailed in the pakistani society and still forms a major part of it.there should be better standards set for the uplift of the rights and security of children,prisoners and all those who are being abused.

Zaid Nomani said...

There is no justification for violence. This is a trauma that has hit our society and has lingered around since decades.The most important reason for this is frustration,the excessive media had created a negative implulse and has made everyone think that violence is the only way to be heard! We strongly condemn violence!

faran hussain said...

since the advent of the concept"emancipation of women"and the women empowerment domestic violence has been erradicated in the elite and reduced in the middle class.

Pakistani Jails said...

Comment by: Aneeza Alvi & Noor Shahid Section H!
"this issue needs an open and detailed dicussion. the topic is however sensitive as several people are brutally treated without a cause and tortured to even death."

HUSNAIN UL HAQ said...

VOILENCE IS A MAJOR CONCERN IN PAKISTAN , WHICH SHOULD BE DEALT WITH HUGE RESPONSIBILITY. TOGETHER AS A NSATION WE SHOULD CONSIDER THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION AND ACT ACCORDINGLY

Abdul Samad said...

I totally agree with Pakistani Jails, women need to step up and take the reins.

Ali Fakhar said...

Many studies show that women suffer greater rates of injury due to domestic violence, and some studies show that women suffer higher rates of assault.

amina said...

I think the society norms and the century old traditions have been engraved in the minds of the pakistani people. People are still very much influenced by these traditions ridculous yet followed norms.people still use voilence the females are scared of yet other attacks so they donnot speak up.The lack of education also influences domestic voilence

Anonymous said...

Our laws and systems have deteriorated, incredibly. Pakistani law not only fails to criminalise domestic violence, but particularly marital rape, which is a common form of violence against women. An earlier provision of the Pakistan Penal Code treated marital rape of girls under the age of 14 as an offence.

Anonymous said...

I was searching online for cases in Pakistan regarding the domestic voilence and I found this on one of the sites:

Agony of Rehana Bibi: From Domestic to State Violence.

Rehana Bibi’s case is a glaring example in this regard. Rehana has tried to get justice against her violent husband for thrashing her and dumping her in front of her parent’s house, but to no avail. Her real ordeal started when she tried to get a case registered against him. Currently, under protection with AGHS Legal Aid Cell, Rehana is now fed up with the state organs that are supposed to get her justice. Belonging to Shahdara Town, Lahore, Rehana married Muhammad Riaz, a factory worker, almost 11 years ago in Murdekey and she has a child. Though her husband abused her regularly her plight increased when she found out that her husband had an affair with a woman named Naveeda. Not tolerating criticism from Rehana for his affair, Riaz thrashed her with a baton on November 10 and then told one of his relatives to leave her at her father’s home in Shahdara. She needed medical treatment when her parents found her lying on their doorstep.

Her father took her to a local hospital but it did not treat her and sent her to a bigger hospital in the city. She was denied emergency treatment at Mayo Hospital on November 11 and Lahore General Hospital (LGH) on November 12 because she did not have a medico-legal certificate. Hospitals still ask for medico-legal certificates before treating violence or accident victims despite the fact that the federal government passed a law in 2004 making emergency treatment compulsory before a medico-legal certificate is necessary. The law also states that female medico-legal officers must deal with cases of women. Also, medico-legal certificates are denied without a police report, which was refused by the local police station to the victim’s father despite repeated requests. Still untreated, she rushed to the Punjab inspector general of police (IG) on November 14. She was not allowed to meet the IG but a guard referred her to the AGHS Legal Aid Cell.

The AGHS Legal Aid Cell received Rehana and on the same day, an AGHS team and the victim went to a women’s police station to lodge a case and seek justice. She was turned away and no legal help was offered by the police station because the case occurred out of their precincts. Later, the team and the victim went to LGH but were denied treatment again. They were told to seek a local magistrate’s help if they were unable to manage a police report for a medico-legal certificate. The team and the victim went to a magistrate for a medico-legal certificate but magistrates sent the case from one to another. Ultimately, the victim succeeded in getting a magistrate’s permission and went to the LGH for a medico-legal certificate.

Anonymous said...

its so true..women have been tortured and degraded in so many instances.ofcourse some examples cannot represent the whole of the society but atleast it can demonstrate the depth an the gravity of this matter.We only hear some of the voices while thousands of other screams are lost in the ignorant air of our society.Women deserve the highest of esteem in our society and we cant just let them be yet another victim of our abysmal illetracy an ignorance.

Anonymous said...

good attempt...we must always raise such issuess...to generate awareness in our society..
the greatest journey begins with a small step,..
good step

Unknown said...

I think the domestic violence in Pakistan is the result of the lack of Islamic knowledge among the people. Many of us are not aware of the rights/duties that Islam enjoins upon Husbands towards their wives and vice versa.

It was narrated from Jaabir that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said in his Farewell Sermon: “Fear Allah concerning women! Verily you have taken them on the security of Allah..." (Narrated by Muslim, 1218)

Allah says in the Holy Quran: “and live with them honorably” [al-Nisaa’ 4:19]
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: ‘Be kind to women.’”(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3153; Muslim, 1468) and at another place, our Prophet (PBUH) said: “The best of you is the one who is best towards his wife, and I am the best of you towards my wives.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3895; Ibn Maajah, 1977)

We can clearly see from the hadith above that Prophet Muhammad (PUBH) has set the example himself and directed us to follow his sunnah. I quoted only few references to show that we lack the basic knowledge of Islamic teachings regarding the relationship of husband and wife. We need to gain knowledge and then to spread it to others so that this crime could be reduced. It is up to us now.

- Abdullah Hamid.
AHM

Unknown said...

I think that people are well aware of the domestic violence and most of the educated people have stopped this kind of violence but there are always some black sheeps in the flock.
Moreover, i think media is playing a great role just to highlight and keep people updated about these type of news, on newspapers and tv channels, especially City 42. They don't really do much to aware people to tackle or change thinking of the people, but then again, its what the Media is supposed to do, search and report!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I was searching about Violence against women in Capital and found

ISLAMABAD - The level of violence against women, particularly physical violence is touching alarming proportions in the Federal Capital, as out of total reported 4,514 cases of violence against women 111 incidents were reported in Islamabad during first six months of 2009.
Of these, 111 reported cases of violence in the Capital, 26 cases of murder, one of honour killing, 31 of abduction, 8 cases of domestic violence,4 of rape, one of sexual assault, 4 incidents of suicide, one of stove-burning and 35 of miscellaneous nature of offences against women. The facts were revealed in a bi-annual report of 2009 on the ‘Situation of Violence Against Women in Pakistan” of the Aurat Foundation, Islamabad aimed at identifying the number of cases of violence against women in Pakistan thus it aims to create a more informed and supportive environment and mobilise social pressure.
The report was a collection and compilation of statistics on the incidents of violence against women under its national programme ‘Policy and Data Monitor on Violence against Women’ for elimination of violence against women in Pakistan. The study has shown that the Punjab remained in the tope of the list with a total number of 3,067 incidents of violence against women occurred in 35 districts of Punjab between January-June 2009,while 835 cases were reported in Sindh, 327 in NWFP and 174 were reported in Balochistan.
Almost all these cases are reported cases. Among these only FIR of 3,099 cases was registered, 759 cases were not registered and there is no evidence found in media regarding the FIR status of remaining 656 cases. Out of a total of 4,514 cases, the number of the cases of abduction are 1046, murder 691, rape 466, suicide 388, and honour killing of women 293 among all the recorded cases in first and second quarter of 2009 followed by cases of sexual assault 148, stove burning 37, acid throwing 27 and offences of miscellaneous nature around such as vanni/sawara, custodial violence, torture, trafficking, child marriages, incest, threat to violence, sexual harassment, attempted murder, suicide and rape in the four provinces and Islamabad. While presenting the findings of the six-monthly report Arifa Mazhar, senior member of the Violence Against Women Watch Group said that violence against women is a persistent and ongoing problem in Pakistan and around the world. “It affects women’s social and economic equality, physical and mental health, well being and economic security”, she further noted. “Decision-makers require a clear understanding of the nature and severity of social problems in order to develop effective responses”, said another senior member of the Violence Against Women Watch Group, Mustafa Solangi. Rabbia Hadi of Aurat Foundation opined that this data of violence against women would in the long run provide policy and law reform input to federal and provincial governments, political parties and legislators through consultative processes on developing policy framework and institutional mechanisms for ending violence against women.

Unknown said...

You should create a blog post on how to report domestic violence. I know a neigbhour who goes through it and I want to report it.

Unknown said...

You should create a blog post on how to report domestic violence. I know a neigbhour who goes through it and I want to report it.