Pakistani women victims of ‘honor’

LAHORE, Pakistan | Twelve-year-old Ahsan takes the hand of his blind mother, Naeema Bibi, to lead her out of their home and to the street to hail a taxi.

Mrs. Bibi hasn’t always been blind. Three years ago, after her husband repeatedly beat her, she asked for a divorce because he was not providing for her or their children.

His response was immediate and brutal - an attack with sulphuric acid that disfigured her face beyond recognition and left other parts of her body a mass of scars. And, she was blind.

Her husband fled and was never arrested. Now, Mrs. Bibi, 40, depends solely on her two sons and one daughter to feed her, travel with her into town, even take her to the bathroom.

Mrs. Bibi is a victim of a silent epidemic inside Pakistan that has caused tens of thousands of women to be subjected to abuse, even death, in the name of preserving a family’s honor in a male-dominated society. Asking for a divorce, refusing to marry a man of their parents’ choice or being the victim of a rape can trigger such retribution.

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The deepening humanitarian crisis, mostly unnoticed by the Western world, is laid bare by the numbers:

Between 70 percent and 90 percent of the 83 million women in Pakistan have been attacked or suffered other forms of domestic abuse by husbands, future husbands or other family members, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

More than 4,100 “honor” killings - the slaying of a woman by relatives who think she has shamed the family - occurred in the country between 2001 and 2004, according to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry.

Nearly 290 women were killed and 750 permanently injured or disfigured as a result of acid attacks in 2002 alone, according to HRW.

Girls and young women between the ages of 14 and 25 are the most common victims. The motives of the husbands or male relatives vary: revenge, obsession, jealousy, suspected infidelity, sexual noncooperation, simply being told “no.”

The women often are ostracized by their families after the attacks and unable to find jobs. They are confined to their homes in social isolation.

“Gender based violence and horrific examples like honor-killing are common in too many societies that still accept discrimination, exploitation and violence against women,” said Andrea Bottner, the director of the Office of International Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. “In too many parts of the world, women still do not have full protection under the law or equal access to justice. This is unacceptable.”

Deep roots

Shahnaz Bhukari, founder of the Progressive Women’s Association (PWA) that provides help to Mrs. Bibi and other abused women, thinks the lack of attention is a result of Pakistan’s unstable government.

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