The Plight of Women!
By: Mushtaq Hurra
The recent episode near the holy shrine of Makhdoom sahab has sent shivers down the spine of every sensitive soul particularly parent community. A mentally challenged woman is gang raped and forced to deliver her a still baby on road in this bone chilling cold of November. The soul of Makhdoom sahab must be ashamed and cursing his disciples for not checking the menace of women sexploitation and growing indecency. How can we claim to be mystic and followers of mysticism when BinteHawa (daughter of eve) is subjected to inhumane and brutal treatment? Our cherished ethos and morals have eroded away.
Woman is neither a toy to play with nor a gadget to produce children. She is the absolute beauty of this universe and the later is sure to be dull and bleak without her. She adds color to the monotonous world in the form of a daughter, mother, wife, sister, friend, sympathizer and what not. According to Allama Iqbal “Woman has added color to this world “.
Even Heaven was empty despite everything when Adam (AS) was placed there. Despite every comfort under his feet, Adam (AS) was looking a little upset, probably yearning for a partner, and Allah recognized and understood his longing or appetency and created Eve(AS) from his ribs. This proved to be the biggest reward and blessing for Adam (AS) from his Lord.
Since this day, she has been solacing him as a mother, sympathizing him as a sister, loving him as a daughter, comforting him as a wife and caring him as a friend. She has been working parallel to him in every sphere of life, but with the passage of time, man began to treat her as his slave. She became just a toy and mere amusement for him. She lost her divinely status and rights. Man trampled her dignity under his feet and many revolutionaries and human rights activists worked untiringly for the restoration of her rights but her condition didn’t improve. She is used up for pleasure and then thrown away like a disposable item.
Many movements were initiated to revive her lost glory. Many political dispensations passed bills for her emancipation and many NGO’s came into existence aimed to work for the women empowerment. But alas! her plight could not be ended.
In the contemporary world, Binti-Hawa has become merchandise, a commodity. She sometimes becomes the attraction of bars and nightclubs, sometimes used as a receptionist to win the customers, sometimes used up by men to fulfill their libido in brothels, sometimes her chastity is torn off on the roads, sometimes her purity falls prey to wolves in the moving buses, sometimes, she is sold like a cow and sometimes molested by vagabonds in colleges and offices.
This is not the end of the story. Even a father didn’t spare his teenage daughter .The father’s dastardly act of cowardice has bowed our heads down in shame. The barbaric act has not only besmirched the sacred relationship rather has breached the trust of daughters on their fathers who are not lesser than God to them. When daughters are not safe in their own families then what is expected on roads and other places outside her home. Here, I don’t intend to defame and humiliate any area or any individual but I only wish to apprise my readers about the growing disintegration of our moral fabric. This precarious situation is enough to snatch our peace of mind because we are heading towards a catastrophe which is sure to push us into a state where we will choose to die.
From domestic violence to the military belligerence, she has become the softest target in the masculine world. She is easily falling prey to the brutalities and the cruelties in the conflict zones of the world. In the States like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir etc… she is the worst hit victim of the violence. She is raped and tortured ruthlessly. In such zones of the world, she is subjected to cruelty. Sometimes her son is killed which leaves her bosom torn, sometimes her brother is killed which breaks her back and sometimes her husband is killed which makes her world gloomy and this is the harshest cruelty inflicted on a woman. Who not knows the infamous tragedy of Kunan Poshpora Kupwara where the sky is still lamenting itself for being witness to the mass rape of women.
In the male dominated society, her birth is still being considered inauspicious and a bad omen. We the so-called educated and civilized people, strangle her in her mother’s womb and prove ourselves more dangerous than ignoramus Arabs who used to bury their daughters alive. Many feeble-minded parents ill-treat their daughters and consider them as liabilities although they have outshone the boys in every sphere of life. She is considered blunt-minded hence is not included in the decision making matters. Particularly, the woman in our rural setup is completely neglected and ignored. She is considered as a machine to produce children and treated as a robot to do the different domestic and agricultural chores.
According to different surveys and researches, she is immensely suffering from stress and depression. Many emotional and psychological woes continue to haunt her. We all need to work for the restoration of her lost rights, status and dignity. We all must shun the negative biases against her. Imams, teachers, scholars, writers intellectuals and elders of our society have a pivotal role to play in the upliftment and empowerment of our women folk. Moreover, strong legislations need to be passed to check the crime against women. If our government can implement guest control then they should go for parallel laws to curb the menace of dowry which happens to be a big factor of female genocide in our society.I believe she is not the frailty but the strength of the man.
Muslim societies used to respect their women but off late, we have been subjecting her to immense agony. The land of sufis ( Paere Waer ) was thought to be a safer place for women but we too have turned animalistic. Many episodes have brought us humiliation and shame as we have crossed the limits. Woman is a flower to be smelt not a toy to be trampled under feet.
The writer is a teacher, Columnist, Poet, Orator and a social activist. He can be reached at [email protected]
