One of the best things about the United States is that anybody can say anything to your face without fear or hesitation. If someone minds, the person who made the statement seeks an excuse and moves on. And if the matter provokes a fight, you say “sorry” to get yourself out of it. Not long ago, a senior U.S. official said that Pakistanis could sell their mothers for money.
Personally, I was shocked to hear it on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) that while talking to the Washington Post in New York, our beloved President General Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistani women who wished to go abroad should get themselves raped in order to get a Canadian visa, and fame and money.
We don’t know how General Musharraf could have uttered these words, but his statement is being commented all over the world. Canada has even demanded a formal apology from General Musharraf. Human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, have protested Musharraf’s remarks and demanded he take back his words. Personally, I don’t expect such opinion about women from Musharraf. Perhaps the General was misinterpreted when he said, “If you cannot stop rape, then enjoy the rape.”
I don’t think that any Pakistani woman would think that she would get publicity, lots of money and the doors of the West would open with a visa for Briatin and Canada if she were raped. Our truly beloved President General Pervez Musharraf lives in one of the world’s most sheltered environs, which has allowed him to survive several assassination attempts. But being sheltered, he probably doesn’t know the limitations and difficulties faced by the poor. With malice to none, let me say it that there is no social justice for the poor in Pakistan. Women have no standing either with the men or with the courts in our society.
Pakistan neither has social nor judicial justice. The law, the judiciary, the police, everything is pliant to the wealthy, while the poor remain oppressed. No woman or a girl gets raped at will – she is raped forcibly.
If a powerful and influential person rapes innocent, poor, helpless girl and uses all his political and monetary might, where could the aggrieved girl go for justice?
If girls like Sonia Naz, rape victim in Pakistan, go to the police station to report her rape, the cops can refuse to register a report, and may end up by raping her themselves first, as a bonus, to stamp their manhood, potency and state power on her face. It is in this desperate and hopeless situation that our women turn to the NGOs for help.
But this cry for help makes General Musharraf mad. Pakistani women, who were subjected to rape, are tarnishing Pakistan’s image abroad by seeking the help of foreign NGOs and the media, but it’s not their fault. The fault is yours General Musharraf, because you gave these NGOs as a gift to the Pakistani nation by allowing them to function in the country. Why General Musharraf keep mum when the NGOs bring Pakistan into disrepute by raising the issue of Hudood Ordinance [a Pakistani Islamic law on adultery] and blasphemy laws at an international level? Perhaps Musharraf remains silent because these NGOs are promoting Musharraf’s own agenda [He wants to amend these laws, which are heavily endorsed by the clergy.]. Wise people rightly said: You reap whatever you sow.
