Image courtesy: www.phnompenhpost.com

Those of you who read my articles know that I don’t waste my time, or yours, talking about irrelevant things. I’ll talk about the things that make Pakistan weak, domestically and internationally, and give you an understanding that others will not give you.

At least that is what I hope I am doing.

On Chand Raat, Raheela, 19, her 7 month old nephew and her cousin were headed to the market near their home to have mehndi applied for the Eid-ul-Fitr festival. I’m sure no one knew what was about to happen to them once they left the house.

Many of you will know about Raheela’s case, but you may not know all the details to make you effective in raising your voice. Raheela was targeted by another weak example of male masculinity in Pakistan. She was the victim of an acid attack on Chand Raat.

Raheela was attacked by Zeeshan Alias Ali, a police constable posted at the Mubina Town police station, who was upset because her family had not accepted the marriage proposal. Zeeshan is an architect of terror, along with his 3 brothers also police officers at Mubina Town, using their police uniforms as a license to victimize and harass Karachi citizens.

3 days after the incident, I posted the entire situation, as we knew it, on my Facebook page. I’d invite you to take a look at the posting and the comments that came from the over 827,000 people reached. I’ll tell you before you go there, the comments are both painful to read and heartbreaking.

All the victims are currently admitted to Agha Khan University Hospital’s ICU with over 90% of their bodies burnt.

Fariha Noor, who was at the emergency room when the victims were brought in, told us that when we left the hospital, we were all so heartbroken that we didn’t want to celebrate Eid.

That was the story up until then…

The Background

Pakistan is a brutal country full of over macho, super masculine men who believe that women are their property. When they say that they want a specific woman, you can try to move heaven and earth, but you will not be able to stop them or change their mindset.

This is not the first case of a woman being attacked for refusing a marriage proposal, and I am certain it will not be the last either. Acid attacks in the country are regularly used to defend a family’s honor, which is an interesting argument for committing a crime against another human being that is not threatening you. We have also seen women beaten to death, buried alive and many other “innovative expressions of love and respect” from the men who claim to want these women in their lives.

The problem, many claim, is the lack of education. But as we have seen from the Safoora attack, educated people also fall under the charm of violence to demonstrate their adherence to the values and teachings of Islam.

Let’s be honest, this has nothing to do with Islam or religion. Honor killings, acid attacks, FGM and other violence against women is the expression of weakness by another person. It is the expression of intolerance and inability to accept the decisions of others. We do this politically, religiously and socially. Disagree as much as you wish, the record and reasons for the protests speaks for itself.

But here’s the interesting thing… rarely are those protests taken out for the protection of a section of society, whether it be minorities or women. We don’t speak for them publicly. We don’t support them publicly. We make a point of screaming and yelling about the state of society in Pakistan, but it rarely, if ever, goes beyond that.

It must this time.

The “Revised” Story

Since the attack, we have been following everything happening around the family and victims. We had hoped to get Qaim Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, to take a break from his busy vacation schedule in Dubai and anger against the success of the Rangers operation to focus on Raheela’s case and bring the criminal to justice.

I have to say it’s great when politicians don’t disappoint their citizens.

Shaikh Mehmood Bin Humayun, associated with Raheela’s legal team, explained the following series of events, when Qaim Ali Shah took notice.

“The issue was already in the knowledge of Qaim Ali Shah since he sent a representative of the Chief Minister’s office to visit Raheela’s room at Agha Khan. The gentleman presented himself as an ‘administrator,’ based on the information gained from his identification. The representative shared little words of sorrow and promised to take action against the culprit. He then proceeded to take a few snaps with the victim causing me to yell at them for their shameful act.”

He went to explain that the police are attempting to change the facts of the case so that it can be removed from the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) to the civilian courts, if at all. According to Shaikh Mehmood, the Police Investigating Officer has also requested the victim’s mobile and SMS records. The understanding from all sides is that they are working diligently to make sure that their police constable gets a clean chit.

Simultaneously, Rehan alias Salman, Adnan and Irfan, all Zeeshan’s brothers, are working to intimidate and pressurize anyone that might be willing to speak out against them.

But the story doesn’t end there… The Express Tribune ran a semi-detailed story about the attack.

“Shabina (Raheela’s mother) claimed that Zeeshan, who is posted at Mubina Town police station, is confident he will get away with this because he is a policeman and so are three of his brothers, Rehan alias Salman, Adnan and Irfan. Everyone in the Gulzar-e-Hijri area are scared of them.”

This statement was confirmed by a third party to me as well. The brothers are working very hard to intimidate the family members and anyone who might speak against them.

They also reported that Zeeshan is in police custody at Mubina Town police station, the same police station he and his brothers work. But according to Shabina, he was getting VIP treatment from his fellow police officers, being allowed to sit outside his cell, eat food with the police staff and use his mobile phone freely. This statement flies in the face of Mubina Town SHO Zafar Abbas’s statement that he will be transferred to Central Jail Karachi after his 14 day remind is completed.

We’ll believe that when we see it.

The Bothersome Parts

First, the police are responsible for protecting the citizens of Karachi, not their fellow police officers. If they are affording special privileges to a member of their police force, they are violating the law and interfering with justice.

Second, this entire incident was the result of a person not being able to accept another’s decision not to marry them.

“Raheela and Zeeshan were engaged for a year before she broke off the engagement six months ago allegedly because of his relations with other women. Zeeshan started threatening her and would come to the house when no one was home. He tampered with photos and used them to blackmail her, and demanded that the family pay him Rs. 250,000 for breaking the engagement.”

Third, according to the family and their legal team, they believe that Zeeshan planned the attack. According to the family, and I’m not doubting it at all, Zeeshan had put glue in the padlock to their home. When Raheela tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. Her brother also tried to open it, and that is when Zeeshan launched his attack, telling her that she made a mistake breaking off the engagement. He then threw all the acid on her face, some hitting the baby, brother and Zeeshan himself.

If that is the case, it raises the severity of the crime under the law because it was not a sudden attack, it was planned and carried out meticulously. That’s called pre-mediation.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if someone tells the media that his brothers and fellow police constables also knew this was about to happen and did nothing to protect the girl and her family or deal with Zeeshan.

What Can We Do?

Before we talk about what needs to be done in terms of societal response, let’s cover what Raheela needs right now.

She has a number of surgeries to contend with, as do her nephew and brother. Whether these three people will ever recover from this attack, only Allah knows. But we need to find solutions on a few levels.

For Raheela, an account has been setup on the ground floor of AKU at the Soneri Bank Kiosk. The account number is MR# 198-68-20. The MR number is her patient admission number at AKU. We are not associated with the collection or distribution of funds.

You are welcome to donate whatever you wish to help with legal and medical treatments. Remember this doesn’t end when she leaves the hospital, recovery from acid attacks/burns is a long, painful process, and that is just for the physical wounds that you can see. The psychological damage is significantly more intense and immense, and will take decades to recover from, if ever.

As a society, we need to demand that new laws are created immediately and used effectively to counter this problem. When someone is accused of blasphemy, they are usually killed before they get to the police station. Yet, somehow, people who hurt women are allowed to walk free and some even boast about their “outstanding” feats of manhood.

We are closely watching the case in the police and the courts, but would like to bring people on the streets around Pakistan to protest in favor of new stricter laws protecting women in society from all types of violence, whether carried out by a husband, father, brother, son or stranger.

We need a Protection of Women Act. This act should list out all the crimes that have, and could, be carried out against women, the evidence requirements and the punishment guidelines. These crimes must be elevated to the same position as capital murder cases, with similar punishments. These people should not be allowed to take advantage of useless, outdated, badly implemented laws to get away with brutal crimes.

We also need a mass education campaign on all medias, from digital to print and news. Pakistan needs to understand that these are crimes. This has nothing to do with being a man. This has nothing to do with being a Muslim. These are crimes in the civilized world, so we need to decide if we are going to continue to allow animals to rule the roost or if we are going to take our country back by force.

How odd does that seem to an intelligent, thinking person that we need to explain to people that these are crimes and that there is no honor linked to it at all?

They are not something that can be considered an honorable act by any means. They are not something that can be considered Islamic because we seem to be the only Muslim country in the world that allows this to continue without serious punishment.

I’ll close with this.

Pakistan has to change itself and its thinking before we can even dream of getting better. There are no angels that will come and rescue us until we show that we are ready to move forward as a better and stronger nation. This is the first step.

When the citizens of Pakistan stand up and say enough, we have the power to force change, even if it is violent at times. No one has ever happily given rights to people that are under their control, so please don’t think that we are going to find people in the government that will.

Raheela’s mother, Shabina, says that Raheela’s eyes are gone… now it’s time to see if Pakistan is also blind and deaf or if we will stand up to protect our sisters, mothers and wives.

Decide Pakistan because tomorrow it could be your home facing this tragedy.