A stripped girl they didn’t see

Let me pose a question to you. The idea is to prompt a serious reflection on the national state of affairs. So, what recent events or issues, which have either emerged in the media or may have been raised in your personal encounters, do you think are crucial in the context of the future of this country?

It is possible to phrase this question differently. But the responses can be easily imagined. The main focus is likely to be on politics and regurgitating the statements made by political protagonists. Or there may be just a smirk on the face to suggest that people are fed up with the entire show and need some distraction.

However, the exercise, I feel, is useful. Irrespective of how carefree or conscious we are about current affairs, our lives are affected by what happens around us. In that sense, we need to keep pace with developments that take place in our specific areas of interest. Besides, we have our responsibilities and roles as citizens – though this is something that is not fully understood.

Anyhow, I attempted an unstructured survey this week by asking friends and acquaintances – and some strangers with whom it was possible to strike a conversation – about the headlines that had stayed in their mind. What is the issue that may affect the course of action in the near or distant future? What particular story or issue made you think?

I confess that it wasn’t an entirely gratifying experience. But I also felt enlightened to some extent. It is difficult to make an anecdotal analysis of the many conversations that I have had. Still, some glimpses have stayed in my mind. For instance, there was this mother in a low-income family who was struggling to afford the education of her only child in a private school and there is little else that she can talk or think about.

Since I am in Karachi, I sensed an alarming rise in anxieties that relate to the traffic and transport situation. It hurts people from various strata of society who live in different localities. So many of them have to spend three to four hours commuting to work every day. A social scientist would be able to decipher how this daily rigour would influence their worldview or their political affiliations.

Being a journalist, I am able to interact with people from across the spectrum, ranging from the top functionaries to the proverbial man in the street. This, I find, is an exceptional perspective. The stories that I have heard in exclusive, late-evening huddles, are incredible. Some are blended with, perhaps, intentional falsehood. Yet, the truth that one can carefully sift out is still unbearable. And this surely has a bearing on what is happening to Pakistan.

There is something that I always find quite disconcerting. One could condone the blind spots of the supporters of a party. The talk shows have exposed their kind. What I regret is that most of them are not well-informed or even rational in their thoughts. They are generally ignorant of the relevant facts. At times, it is simply a matter of make-believe.

Obviously, this survey that I am talking about is an extension of my regular pursuit as an interested observer of things. One does this all the time. Even seemingly personal and intimate conversations wend their way to a political discourse that is usually a lament. For a journalist, it is an occupational hazard. This time, though, I had a specific purpose. I was searching for something. Sadly, I did not find it.

This calls for an explanation. I was trying to find out if otherwise very concerned citizens would also notice significant stories that are lost in the inside pages of newspapers or just find little space in the electronic media. This week, I had the report of a girl being stripped and paraded in the streets of a village in Dera Ismail Khan.

One published report said that three of the eight suspects who were arrested in the girl’s stripping case confessed to the crime on Monday, “saying they paraded the girl in their village to take revenge on her brother for dishonouring their women”. They said that on October 27 “they intercepted the girl at gunpoint while she was fetching water from a pond along with her two cousins and disrobed her and forced her to run in the area”.

How important do you think is this incident? In the first place, it is not the same as ‘honour killing’ that is more frequent, though still a matter of great shame for us. Unfortunately, the crime of stripping a woman and parading her naked to take revenge of a crime committed by a male member of her family is also not unique. It has happened before.

Is this the reason why this abominable crime and the court proceedings that took place this week did not make a splash in the media? Is it simply more of the same that we can ignore? We do not do this with politics. Imran Khan, for instance, makes the same statement day after day and every time it makes the big headline. The same applies to other leaders. What else can one expect from a media that does not distinguish between a stock statement and an event?

The point I am making is that not one person that I met this week referred to this act of ignominy. Of course, I had goaded them into looking across the entire scene and often asked them loaded questions. This is how the monumental travails of a poor girl in a remote village were unable to disturb the conscience of a great, nuclear-armed country. We can be sure that something like this will happen again.

We may remember the first time an incident like this had shaken us and was reported internationally. It was in March 1984 – more than 33 years ago – when a group of women was paraded naked in Nawabpur Village. They were stripped by influential men as an act of revenge. Then there was the more famous case of Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang-raped on the orders of a jirga – again as an act of revenge. It became a global story because of the courage of Mukhtaran Mai who stood up against her tormentors.

Apparently, nothing shocks us into action. In a tumultuous world, we refuse to change in some areas. On the other hand, you may find respectable people defending the ‘rivaj’ of revenge – ‘badal’. But isn’t it the passion for revenge that is undoing this country?

The writer is a senior journalist.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com