PAKISTAN MOTHER OF CHILD-RAPE
VICTIM GOES PUBLIC
INTERNATIONAL
By Juliette
Terzieff - WeNews correspondent
LAHORE, Pakistan
(WOMENSENEWS)
)--Growing up was never going
to be easy for Sharee Komal.
Born into an
impoverished family living
in a hut made of odd pieces
of stained cloth tied to pieces
of wood next to a decrepit
cemetery in a poor Lahore
neighbourhood, her life's
prescription was to be hard
work, few amenities, and little-to-no
gratitude in Pakistan's male-dominated
society.
As desperate
as her situation was, life
took a horrifying turn for
the cherub-faced 7-year-old
the morning of May 29 when
a neighbor did the unthinkable.
"He promised
me toys and some chocolate,"
Sharee whispers of the man
she accuses, 23-year-old Ali
Bahader. "But when I
saw he was taking me to a
dark little house, I began
screaming and he started hitting
me in the face . . . then
he really started hurting
me."
Almost eight
hours later, Sharee's distraught
mother and police officers
found her lying unconscious
in the cemetery bruised and
bleeding from the assault.
The police officers--in a
rare show of understanding
in Pakistan--stopped Sharee's
mother, Parveen Barkat, from
bathing the little girl and
rushed her to a Lahore hospital
where tests confirmed their
fears.
Sharee had been
raped.
Underreported
Crime Afflicts Many Children
For Pakistani
human rights campaigners Sharee's
case came as little surprise
in a country where rape reporting
is weak and sexual assaults
on children are a major part
of the problem.
Eight rapes
are reported every day in
Pakistan, a country of 147
million. Human rights activists
estimate that for every rape
case reported, there are two
more that are never brought
to the authorities' attention.
The arguments
against reporting a rape in
Pakistan--where family matters
are largely kept behind closed
doors and rape is an instant
assault on the honor of a
family--are powerful. Rape
victims who register cases
are often ostracized by friends
and neighbors while the general
public, even in cases publicized
by the local media, remains
largely apathetic.
Perpetrators
and their families often browbeat
rape victims for a "compromise"
or "forgiveness,"
threatening further violence
should the case be pursued.
Law enforcement officials
remain largely unsympathetic
to the crime of rape often
refusing to file charges.
If the victim
decides to press ahead, the
experience can be discouraging.
Recently, for instance, the
father of an 8-year-old boy
reportedly raped by a local
maulvi (religious preacher)
in Lahore's suburbs withdrew
the official complaint after
neighbors and acquaintances
spent weeks publicly condemning
him for attempting to sully
the reputation of a holy man.
Of the eight
official rape cases reported
each day, five are minors.
Young boys and pubescent males
also fall victim to sexual
abuse by elders, at least
two every day. Of the reported
rapes--of both girls and boys--two-thirds
are gang rapes.
Yet each year
there are only a handful of
convictions against rapists.
Going Public
In a rare show
of defiance in a society that
often discourages victims
from speaking out against
rape, Sharee's mother, Barkat,
decided to go public with
the case. With the help of
local nongovernmental organizations,
she called a press conference
in early June to ask Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf
to personally ensure Bahader
is punished for his actions.
Bahader says
he did not commit the crime.
Bahader is currently in police
custody awaiting trial or
bail; Barkat feels nothing
less than life in prison would
be suitable punishment.
"People
in the neighborhood have called
me a liar, spit at me, and
thrown things," says
Barkat. "We're terrified
that there is nothing to keep
someone from attacking all
of us, but we're talking about
the life of my child and I
want justice."
For aid organizations
working on the rape issue,
determined parents like Barkat
are few and far between. And
even in the most determined
cases, they say that settling
out of court almost always
prevails over Pakistan's achingly
slow judicial system.
Cases often
drag on for years during which
time societal pressure mounts
on the victim's family to
cease airing their dirty laundry
in public.
Risk of Facing
Hudood Ordinance
Should the victim
be unable to produce four
male witnesses to testify
on their behalf, she is likely
to end up being charged under
Pakistan's notorious Hudood
Ordinance, which criminalizes
extra- or pre-marital sex,
and carries a punishment of
death. According to the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan,
50 percent of the women who
report rapes end up being
charged under the controversial
law.
"If you
take 75 cases, four will end
up in court, and maybe one
will end up with a conviction,"
says Fatima Ambreen, coordinator
of War Against Rape--or WAR--a
Pakistani aid organization
that works specifically on
the rape issue and is aiding
Barkat with Sharee's case.
The group is providing free
legal advice and counseling
for Sharee and her family.
Set up in the
early 1990s by a group of
15 concerned citizens, WAR
now has offices in most major
Pakistani cities and has dozens
of qualified professionals--doctors,
nurses, lawyers, and journalists--lending
their skills to combat the
prevalence of rape through
seminars and public awareness
campaigns. The group also
pushes for more government
acknowledgement of the problem
and better support to victims.
Besides providing
rape victims with physical
and mental treatment and assisting
with legal representation,
WAR runs workshops and public
awareness campaigns across
the country.
"People
just have a tendency to close
their eyes to something that
desperately needs to be talked
about," Ambreen says.
"We have to break the
taboo, end the silence."
Juliette
Terzieff is a freelance journalist
currently based in Pakistan
who has worked for the San
Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek,
CNN International, and the
London Sunday Times.
For more
information:
IRINnews.org
--Pakistan: Anti-rape NGO
Struggles to be Heard: - http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=39425
Women's eNews--In
Pakistan, Those Who Cry Rape
Face Jail: - http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1835/
Women's eNews--Pakistan's
Acid-Attack Victims Press
for Justice: - http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1908/
