'Warof in Pakistan:Will ac US terror'againstwomen

o push Pakistan toward more cooperation in fighting terrorists, the United States has hundreds of millions of dollars in suspended rilitary aid. Will it also have the backbone to cut aid ver Pakistan'sabhorrent treatment of women? The fact remains that Pakistan has long been country that collectively wages a war of terror gainst 49 percent of its own population: against .swives, mothers, sisters,and daughters.Yet outsiders scarcelyhear a whimper about this story. Rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment. honor rimes, abuse,and discrimination against women emain seriousproblems in Pakistan.Trustlaw, an 'rganization that provides legal aid and informaion on women's rights, ranks Pakistanas the third nostdangerouscountry for women @ehindCongo Lnd Afghanistan).If successive administrations US LndCongressdon't use more muscle againstthese :riminal human rights violations, it is becausethey lon't want to.

Why don't Pakistani women report these crimes raped on orders of her village council in I to police? Not long ago,one young Pakistani woman causeher brother had allegedly committed and her sister went to a police station to report a with the daughter of a feudal lord in an o missing brother. The two girls were detained and clan. Yet all but one of the 14 accused m repeatedlygang raped by the police. acquitted this year. In a 2005 Washington Post intervier Rashid says, "Pakistani police don't believe rape victims, the politicians don't care, and Pakistanis PresidentPervez Musharraf acknowledge have come to accept this as part of their daily a problem in Pakistan,but added, 'A lot o reality." say that if you want to go abroad and gt A leading Pakistanipolitician was recently quoted or Canadian citizenship and be a million as saying that if a woman is raped and she can't yourself raped." bring four independent witnesses who saw the act, she should not bother to report it. This, despite the USshould not fear playing hardball The US government largely winks at fact that the law no longer requires four witnessesto prove rape. Pakistan has improved its laws protect- giving Pakistan more than $3 billion a yea But ing women in recent years, but lack of enforcement nomic and military assistance. why shr American woman's (or man's)taxesbe use and entrenched attitudes block progress. up a Pakistani government th And it's not just rape. The exagainst its own husband of a female Pakistani friend Lesson from the crimes acceptable? female tion as threatenedto throw acid in her face if was Some apologists cluck r she went out with another man. It is pastTheUS not uncommon to seePakistani women with the "Don't dump Pakistan. It has tough clear weapons." Yet with faces scarred by such acid attacks. Soviets behalf the US courageouslyin the c on Ireland's Refugee Documentation champii iexual assault so common it's not reported Jews. causeof Soviet Jewswhen the I of Soviet Recently an elderly Pakistani woman was pa- Centre reporting on crimes against 'adednaked through a Punjab village. The reason? Pakistaniwomen said that "in extreme had thousandsof nuclear wea To those worrying that if Washington lhe woman's grown son was having an adulterous casespunishments can include women being bur'elationship. ied alive." Pakistani men are rarely convicted of dump Pakistan it might fall into China's o appropriate response should be "Goodi 1 According to the Human Rights Commission of crimes againstwomen. Rural land or cattle disputes are often settled by serve each other." lakistan, 791 women were murdered in honor killFear of an erratic Pakistan and our ou'r ngs in 2010. Rapes,like honor killings, are greatly having one parly give the other an underage daughter. Rural Pakistan resemblesthe l4th century. It less political expediencyshould not be the rnderreported,totaling "only" 3,000last year. women's is not uncommon to hear or read stories of land forcebehind US policy toward Islamabad. T Azra Rashid, a Canadian-Pakistani locking up nubile young serf girls in pens the values of moral and political bankrupt< ights activist, says that "sexual assault is so com- overseers non women don't even report it. Girls grow up and using them for pleasure.Domestichousemaids democratic nations do not abandon the rr 'rot even knowing it's sexual assault when they in cities are so l'ulnerable their condition is said to abused,and the raped for political conven "The entire patriarchal lre touched inappropriately."As a young girl, Ms. be worse than that of slaves. I Walter Rodgers,a former senior inter tashid says she was often groped and fondled societyis run by men, and warped," saysRashid. In a high-profile case,Mukhtara Mai was gang correspondent CNN, writes a biweel<\' to the market. /or loing

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