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Shattered voices
The recent horrendous incident in Toba Tek Singh has reignited the urgent need to confront the endemic dilemma of honour killings in Pakistan. A 22-year-old girl named Maria was strangled to death by her brother and father in front of other family members. This devastating event, however, is not an isolated incident but rather a manifestation of a larger issue of brutality, violence and injustice faced by women in the name of defending family honour.
Maria’s story sadly mirrors the recurring tragedies witnessed in numerous cases that have shocked the nation. In 2016, the barbaric murder of Qandeel Baloch sent shockwaves across the country. Qandeel’s brother stated that he felt “provoked” by her behaviour and admitted to choking her. Similarly, the case of Saima, who was killed by her family for marrying against their wishes, highlights the drastic consequences faced by women who assert their independence.
The video clip showing the ruthlessness of family members as they watched Maria being murdered serves as irrefutable proof of the normalization of violence. While legal reforms such as the anti-honour killing laws are steps in the right direction, they are not enough to confront the deeply ingrained societal attitudes that sustain honour killings. Vigorous and robust implementation of laws, education and awareness campaigns to challenge detrimental norms and customs, as well as support services for victims and survivors, are crucial elements of a holistic approach.
YUMNA HASSAN
Karachi
Ukraine
needs help
The situation in Ukraine is going from bad to worse. Russia is stepping up attacks on the power grid, not just near the fighting, but even in the far western part of Ukraine.
Five of the six power stations near Lviv have been damaged/destroyed, leaving tens of thousands of people without electricity or running water.
The people are suffering in ways we can hardly imagine. We must do all we can to help these people.
JUBEL D’CRUZ
Mumbai, India
Waziristan’s conundrum
Waziristan has always been plagued with terrorism, violence and instability. Their impact has wrought enormous damage to its indigenous people. Despite having ample natural resources and untapped or partly tapped reserves of coal, oil, gas, chromite and copper, this hapless region is marred with operations and unending terrorism encounters. This has plagued the potential and dynamic process and prosperity of Waziristan region.
Majority of people live a substandard and impoverished lifestyle. The reason why the very abundance of the precious land resources could not bear a genuine fruit for the wellbeing of this region is because an exploitative extraction of these resources goes unchecked and unaccountable due a fright security situation there.
Waziristan has such an abundance of resources that if tapped fairly and efficiently, not only can it make this impoverished region a prosperous but it can also help mitigate the curse of extremism and terrorism. There is no denying the fact that terrorism and extremism have roots in economic inequality and abject poverty.
Our state institutions and concerned authorities should mull over other way-outs beyond a kinetic operations to ensure peace and prosperity. Had merely short-sighted approaches and strategies been effective to steer this region out of quagmire of conflict and violence towards real peace, they would have done this so far.
Waziristan issues and woes needs an insightful and comprehensive steps that go beyond what state authorities keep telling us viz. security. But also people to people connections from grassroots levels of socio-economic fabric of society to engage masses of the region to help improve things are also equally mandated.
AMJID AZIZ WAZIR
Waziristan
