Another stoning of a Sindhi woman

The social media was filled with posts of the stoning of a married woman in Jamshoro district last week and a postmortem of the lady has revealed a high degree of torture and molestation of the victim. Police have already arrested a husband and some relatives of the woman.

This was the second case of stoning in recent history as a few months back a case of the stoning of a girl was reported in Johi, Dadu district, which was hushed by the Police under a high degree of pressure from influential Rind tribe chieftains who were also supported by a media magnate belonging to the same tribe. An HRCP (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan) fact-finding mission also tried to cover up the stoning incident.

Initially, the Johi police had arrested the father, mother and a prayer leader in the case of stoning to 10-year old Gul Sama, but they were later freed under the pressure from local influential people.

A reporter from a media house based in Karachi had also faced outrage from the Rind tribe people as their chieftain managed to hold several protest demonstrations against the said reporter in different cities including in Dadu and Karachi. The reporter and his family members received threats from the local landlords and his supporters.

The new incident of stoning is feared to face the same fate as the tribal influential people and some sections in the establishment do not want a spread of the news about the centuries-old tribal custom of stoning in the media.

A recent statement by Women Action Forum has demanded the provincial Sindh government to send the case to the Anti-Terrorism court.

The women's rights group WAF has expressed serious concern over a post-mortem report of the woman, Wazeeran Chhachhar. The WAF said that this case had exposed the incompetence of all institutions supposed to enforce the law and society`s indifferent attitude towards women. It said that the victim`s body had clear marks of violence all over and according to the woman who gave a funerary bath to the victim, there were torture marks on her body also.

It said that according to a post-mortem report, Waseeran had also offered resistance and her nails were also filled with dust.

The cold-blooded murder of a lady was first reported on social media, and then local and foreign press took it. On this, the Chairperson of the Sindh Commission on Status of Women Ms. Nuzhat Shireen also visited the place near Sann.

Although police have registered a case against the woman’s husband, his brother and another relative. Father the victim woman is the complainant in the case. Police have also arrested the husband and his brother who confessed to torturing her.

According to a report published in Arab News it was a case of a family dispute of “Watta Satta”, which literally means “to give and take (relationship)”.

But it is not simply a family feud as the woman was brutally tortured and the post-mortem report has confirmed it. The WAF has feared that the case might be spoiled due to a lack of interest from the police.

Unabated use of religion against opponents in Sindh

Sindh has witnessed two recent incidents in which the religious tool of blasphemy law was (mis)used against the opponents.

In the first case, the state on Tuesday filed a blasphemy case against a professor of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Sajid Soomro with charges of contempt of Islam as he reportedly took part in the funeral of a Sindhi writer Atta Mohammad Bhanbhro. Prof. Soomro was later arrested by Khairpur police from his home early on Wednesday.

Prof. Sajid Soomro is also a famous writer and a member of Sindhi Abadi Sangat.

Another incident took place in Hyderabad where Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Fazlur Rehman group started a social media campaign against a leader of Women Action Forum (WAF) Dr. Arfana Mallah alleging that she has done blasphemy by condemning the Blasphemy law. Interestingly this law has been condemned by many, but why JUI-F found it objectionable in the case of Dr. Mallah.

The JUI-F’s local leadership asked the party workers through a Facebook post to gather at a mosque in Bhitai Nagar and from there they will proceed to a police station to lodge an FIR against the women rights activists Prof. Dr. Mallah who is teaching at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Dr. Mallah had played a key role in organising the Aurat March at Sukkur in March this year despite severe opposition by fanatics and religious leaders including provincial leadership of JUI-F. Before the March, the JUI Sindh had threatened to stop the march.

Later, Women Action Forum issued a press release condemning threats to Dr. Arfana Mallah. “We demand that police thwart such nefarious attempts and that this situation is handled in a timely and lawful manner before any damage is caused,” the WAF statement added.

Interestingly both the victims are professors of universities. According to the FIR against Prof. Soomro, the police have included Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, which pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Misuse of the Blasphemy law is quite common in Pakistan as this law, was made stringent by the Military dictator General Ziaul Haq and was misused against the opposition and minority activists. The law has hit vulnerable sections, especially women and minorities. In Sindh last year a couple of serious incidents happened in which people from the Hindu community were made targets.

I don’t know what is the main cause of concern for JUI-F leadership in Sindh this time against Dr. Mallah, but it is a matter of the fact that the religious zealots have always used this law as a tool to gain their nefarious designs.

According to a post by Azam Jahangiri of JUI F on Facebook, Dr. Arfana Mallah uttered derogatory words against the Blasphemy law in her Facebook post while condemning the registration of a case against Prof. Soomro. Therefore, his party under the leadership of Taj Mohammad Nahiyon is determined to lodge a blasphemy case against Dr. Mallah.