With all the attention that media and the blogworld has focused on the Republican convention and sequellae, it’s all to easy to forget that the rest of the world hasn’t stopped in its track, and that the enemies of freedom and democracy and the U.S. continue to prosper.
And from Pakastan comes this reminder of an ancient evil that wraps itself in the mantle of Islam:
Despair among human rights workers in Pakistan over a rash of so-called “honour killings” intensified yesterday when it was disclosed that a girl forced into marriage with a 45-year-old man at the age of nine had been killed by her parents because she asked for an annulment.
The girl, 17, who had been fighting a lonely but successful legal battle, was coming out of court in the Punjabi city of Sahiwal after being granted the annulment by a judge when she was surrounded by a group of men and shot in view of police.
The death of Saira Nusrat Bibi has added further to concerns among human rights campaigners already outraged over the case of five women – among them three teenage schoolgirls – buried alive in the province of Baluchistan because they wanted to marry men of their choice in defiance of the wishes of tribal leaders.
For some reason the article does not go further into the background of Saira’s case, but rather goes on to explain in detail the killings of those other five women, the inaction by authorities, the public defense of the act by a senior member of Pakastan’s parliament, and most recently a reluctant order by the government to launch an investigation in the face of international outcry.
However, I am far more grieved by this tragic outcome of Saira’s incredibly brave effort to single-handedly persist in seeking to strike a blow for her rights and those of millions of other children, challenging the courts to follow the law in the face of fierce pressures from family and neighbors, finding success and international attention, and then brutally struck down, perhaps with connivance of certain elements of the government or police.
A far more detailed description of her case can be found in a story by the Pakistan Press Foundation
In brief, Saira had always opposed the marriage, had entered into a “love affair” with another cousin not defined. When her parents hear of this, they forcible sent Saira to her husband, and had her over jailed on false kidnapping charges to prevent their elopement. Saira then went to court seeking annulment of her marriage, at which time she was threatened by her family and husband. She was able to get placed in protective custody, but after the final hearing at which she was granted annulment, she was shot to death on court premises as she left the court building while accompanied by police. Arrested for the crime were her father, her (never-legally) husband against whom her annulment was granted, a brother and a cousin.
Indeed, I’d call Saira another victim of terrorism driven by the same Islamist and tribal extremism that resulted in 9-11. Indeed, efforts are being made to charge her killers under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.
And checking a listing of recent articles from the Pakistan Press Foundation, women in Pakistan are being assaulted in staggering numbers.
So on this anniversary of the attack on America on 9-11, let us also remember others around the world who have also paid the ultimate price in what we must recognize as a Global War on Terrorism and the perverted theology that fuels it, a movement that will enslave our world if we do not prevail.
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