I think Tigerhawk asks, or hints, at a good question: What do you do about these sorts of abhorrent practices?
Pursuing justice is not easy for a woman in Pakistan, not if the crime is rape. Ghazala Shaheen knows.
Two years ago, relatives say, an uncle eloped with a woman from a higher social caste. The revenge by the woman's family was the rape of Ms. Shaheen, she and relatives charge, after a gang of men raided her father's home and abducted her and her mother in late August.
It is not uncommon in Pakistan for women to suffer callous vendettas for the wrongdoings of their male relatives. That was the case for Ms. Shaheen, a 24-year-old from a relatively poor family who had nonetheless managed to earn a master's degree in education. She says she wants to be a teacher.
Under what are known as the Hudood laws in Pakistan, a woman must produce four witnesses to prove rape. A failure to do so can result in her becoming a victim twice over, and being charged for adultery. The stigma alone is enough to keep many women from trying to bring their attackers to justice.
Human rights advocates have repeatedly called for the repeal of the Hudood laws, which were enacted by the country's last military dictator, Gen. Zia ul Haq, in 1979.
President Pervez Musharraf has vowed to introduce amendments to the laws, but critics say his efforts have been halfhearted. Under pressure from hard-line clerics, Mr. Musharraf's government delayed passage of a proposed law in September that would have allowed rape to be tried in civil courts, where a rape victim needs only to provide a medical witness and other evidence.
As he asks, "if ugly brutality really is the exception rather than the rule, how is it that the military dictator of one of the world's most important Muslim countries knuckles under to pressure from "hard-line clerics?" And if the pressure really is that strong to continue oppressing, humiliating, and assaulting women, what are the chances or opportunities for combatting it?
