islamabad - Shabana from Thatta, Sindh, is one among thousands of women in Pakistan who have to fight even for their legal rights after being oppressed and dealt unjustly by their own family members.
After the death of her husband, the sole breadwinner of the family, Shabana was left with no other option except to ask her brother for her share in inheritance (agricultural land) left by their late father. Her brother had illegally occupied the land. Shabana struggled for almost 12 years, after filing a lawsuit against her brother, to get her legal share.
To highlight such issues faced by women in access to justice in Pakistan, USAID supported Gender Equity Programme (GEP) of Aurat Foundation (AF) organised a mock court tribunal at its annual event titled “Overcoming Barriers to Justice for Women” here on Thursday. Young women lawyers trained under GEP re-enacted Shabana’s ordeal with a vibrant performance that underscored gender insensitive justice system in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Simi Kamal, GEP chief of party, said that GEP provided grants to both public and private organisations and also to NGOs that were providing shelters to women victims of violence. “So far 182 grants have been given and currently we have another 25 grants that will be given for raising awareness on rights of women, improving the quality of life of women workers from lower income groups and mainstreaming the hundreds of women IT graduates through internships,” Kamal said.
Talking about various forms of legal inequalities faced by the women in Pakistan, USAID Mission Director Gregory Gottalieb said that cultural taboos, family resistance, male dominated chambers, court environment and lack of opportunities to learn and excel in the legal profession were among the several factors responsible for limited number of women lawyers in Pakistan.
Women lawyers played a crucial role not only in enabling women to get justice but also in decreasing gender-based violence.
“All of us - men and women - need to play an active role in increasing the commitment to change attitudes about gender. Only then we can hope to redress the social and cultural barriers to women’s equality,” Gottalieb added.
He said that more than 100 cases of rape and gang rape were reported in Pakistan in 2011 and 2012 but the real percentage might be 60 to 70 per cent higher, as many cases were not reported or disclosed due to women’s poor access to justice and social implications.
Stressing the need for creating awareness on rights and strengthen support system for women who dare take a stand against any injustice, Naeem Mirza, chief operating officer AF, stated that presence of trained women lawyers would contribute in creating enabling environment for women who faced discrimination and insecurity at every level in courts.
Mentioning Shabana’s case, he lamented that it was extremely unfortunate to see the way justice was dispensed in Pakistan. “We frequently witness such situations in our country and have become insensitive to them. It is a bitter reality that each hearing is followed by another hearing, and it goes on.”
He stressed upon decision-makers to revamp the lower tiers of judiciary where such cases were rampant and lingered for decades exhausting the victims and, in many instances, wasting their efforts with a delayed justice.