Women and Equality

[Tiger74]

Not sure where else to post this (justice seems more about court issues), but sometimes I am ashamed to be a bloke. How the parents of the 17 year old girl, and the men of this village can look themselves in the mirror amazes me:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24302102-401,00.html

Married at 9, slain by parents at 17
By Bruce Loudon in Islamabad
September 06, 2008 12:00am

DESPAIR among human rights workers in Pakistan over a rash of so-called "honour killings" intensified yesterday when it was disclosed that a girl forced into marriage with a 45-year-old man at the age of nine had been killed by her parents because she asked for an annulment.

The girl, 17, who had been fighting a lonely but successful legal battle, was coming out of court in the Punjabi city of Sahiwal after being granted the annulment by a judge when she was surrounded by a group of men and shot in view of police.

The death of Saira Nusrat Bibi has added further to concerns among human rights campaigners already outraged over the case of five women - among them three teenage schoolgirls - buried alive in the province of Baluchistan because they wanted to marry men of their choice in defiance of the wishes of tribal leaders.

The Baluchistan case was worsened by an attempt by a member of the country's national parliament, senator Israr Ullah Zehri, to defend it, telling colleagues that "these are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them", The Weekend Australian reports.

Members of the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party rounded on Senator Zehi, declaring: "We condemn this barbaric act. This is against Islam, against humanity and against civilised culture."

Yesterday, the Government bowed to pressure and ordered an inquiry into the killings.

Details that have emerged from the village of Baba Kot in Baluchistan indicate that the three girls -- aged between 16 and 18 - and two of their elderly relatives were "shot at" before being buried alive.

"When the fuming elders of the Umrani tribe came to know about the intentions of these girls, they picked them up from their homes along with two of their elderly relatives," one account said.

"The crying girls were pushed into official cars and driven to a deserted area. There they were pushed out of the cars, made to stand in a queue, and volleys of shots fired at them. As the bleeding girls fell to the sand, the tribesmen dragged them into a nearby ditch and levelled it with earth and stones.

"As the two shocked elderly women tried to rescue the hapless girls, they too were gunned down and buried in the same manner. The killers after burying these women returned to their tribe like conquerors without any action taken against them."

 

[ronnit]

did some one tell you that you were a block???


i didnt actually read all your post cos i find things like that a bit too disturbing..so mnay cruel things go on in this world...i try to focus on the good things

 

[S.D.]

What is a "block"?

 

[Willo]

What is a "block"?

bloke?
geez that story left me angry and pissed off. How can humans do this sort of thing?
Bloody atrocious. Barbarous.

 

[mld]

bloke?
geez that story left me angry and p!ssed off. How can humans do this sort of thing?
Bloody atrocious. Barbarous.

agree.

 

[evo]

Closed-minded thinking,'tradition',religion and barbarity go hand in hand.

 

[Liverpool]

Tiger74,
I do not know why you are surprised by this...it is a daily occurrence in these types of countries/cultures and has been happening for years and years.

Closed-minded thinking,'tradition',religion and barbarity go hand in hand.

It is why I was opposing the Islamic push for polygamy to be 'legalised' in this country.

Once we start bowing to demands on the grounds of religious/cultural beliefs of Islam then you only need to look at examples like Tiger74 has just posted to ask yourself.....do we want to become like this too???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554764/Revealed-rising-toll-of-deaths-before-dishonour.html

 

[Tiger74]

Tiger74,
I do not know why you are surprised by this...it is a daily occurrence in these types of countries/cultures and has been happening for years and years.

It is why I was opposing the Islamic push for polygamy to be 'legalised' in this country.

Once we start bowing to demands on the grounds of religious/cultural beliefs of Islam then you only need to look at examples like Tiger74 has just posted to ask yourself.....do we want to become like this too???

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554764/Revealed-rising-toll-of-deaths-before-dishonour.html

This is a different issue to polygamy, so try not to hijack.

Yes I am aware it is happening, but burying 5 people alive is taking this to new levels.

 

[Liverpool]

This is a different issue to polygamy, so try not to hijack.
Yes I am aware it is happening, but burying 5 people alive is taking this to new levels.

That's the point though Tiger74...these are NOT 'new levels' and it shouldn't be a surprise to any of us:

http://www.stop-stoning.org/


And I only brought polygamy in it to try and say to people like you that if you think something like your initial post is so disturbing and disgusting (and they are, you would be correct...I totally agree with you 100%!.....BUT it is not only tolerated in these cultures, it is approved of and encouraged.....so should we really be even contemplating allowing any laws and rules from this type of culture into our society?

 

[barty boy]

I fail to understand how such actions can be tolerated in these countries when these very same countries have signed countless international agreements on the protection of human rights.
Although not nearly as tragic as these circumstances,we could look at out own backyard as well.namely deaths in custody, also although the name escapes me the lady who was sentenced to some sort of mental institution for overstaying her time here.

 

[Liverpool]

I fail to understand how such actions can be tolerated in these countries when these very same countries have signed countless international agreements on the protection of human rights.

barty,
The problem is...many of these countries ALLOW stoning...it is in their law.

Is stoning still practiced? In which countries?
Yes. Stoning to death has been introduced as a legal form of punishment for the ‘adultery of married persons’ (zina al-Mohsena) in Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria (about one-third among 36 states), Pakistan, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates. While the penalty has never been carried out by the state in either Pakistan or Iraq, incidents of stoning have been carried out by communities, seemingly encouraged by the existence of the punishment in law.

http://www.stop-stoning.org/node/9

 

[Willo]

barty,
The problem is...many of these countries ALLOW stoning...it is in their law.

Is stoning still practiced? In which countries?
Yes. Stoning to death has been introduced as a legal form of punishment for the ‘adultery of married persons’ (zina al-Mohsena) in Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria (about one-third among 36 states), Pakistan, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates. While the penalty has never been carried out by the state in either Pakistan or Iraq, incidents of stoning have been carried out by communities, seemingly encouraged by the existence of the punishment in law.

http://www.stop-stoning.org/node/9

Is it culture or religion? It seems the lines are a bit blurred. Barbarous all the same.

 

[barty boy]

if we took action against South Africa for its human rights,and certainly condemn China for tibet why do we do nothing in countries like Pakistan ?Is it because pakistan is needed in the fight against Bin laden and his cronies.
Maybe the Governments of the West should grow some balls ,and stand by what we believe is correct.
I remember growing up as a kid how we roundly condemned the soviet union for its human rights abuses(and rightly so) and yet seemed to turn a blind eye to right wing abuses in chile,south Vietnam,and even european countries like Spain and greece.

 

[Liverpool]

Is it culture or religion? It seems the lines are a bit blurred. Barbarous all the same.

It doesn't matter whether it is their culture and/or their religion.....nothing justifies this sort of behaviour.

And even though it is written into some of these country's laws.....the laws here are so biased towards one gender that they are a farce.

if we took action against South Africa for its human rights,and certainly condemn China for tibet why do we do nothing in countries like Pakistan ?Is it because pakistan is needed in the fight against Bin laden and his cronies.
Maybe the Governments of the West should grow some balls ,and stand by what we believe is correct.
I remember growing up as a kid how we roundly condemned the soviet union for its human rights abuses(and rightly so) and yet seemed to turn a blind eye to right wing abuses in chile,south Vietnam,and even european countries like Spain and greece.

barty,
Nice in theory and I agree with your sentiments.
However in reality, it is a different kettle of fish, I'm afraid....not only for the political reasons but I reckon we treat countries and cultures differently according to how we perceive what they think of humanity themselves.

How many times do we hear on the radio or TV here..."200 people killed on a train crash in [insert Asian country here]"....or "150 people killed in a suicide bombing in [insert Mid-East country here]"..."Thousands slaughtered in [insert African country here] between rebels and Government forces"...and we rarely blink an eyelid.
It is usually a small bit in the 'world news' section of the newspaper as well.
Why?
Aren't these victims as human as the 50-odd people killed in London? or the 3000-odd killed in New York? or the hurricanes in the USA? ferries capsizing in Belgium? oil rigs falling over in the North Sea? or planes crashing in Madrid?

Because for so many years we hear more or less weekly about suicide bombings and the like, we become insenstive towards it.
You hear it on TV and its "oh yeah, another bombing over there, what's new?"...it becomes expected.
If life is so cheap in these countries and people don't give a *smile* if they dob in or kill their own family over something we would deem to be petty...then why should we care?
And while this attitude is poor....it is another reason why western governments turn a blind eye to such human rights abuses in these countries.