By Parvin Sultana for Twocircles.net
Of the many vices that inflict a patriarchal society, honour killing is one. It arises from the idea that women’s body and her behavior is the repository of the honour of her family, community and nation. And as such, whenever she deviates from her fixed role and brings ‘shame’ by her activities, she is taught a lesson: often by being killed. The entire Indian sub-continent suffers from this social vice. Women who intend to marry outside their caste, sub-caste, religion or are in a ‘socially unacceptable’ relationship are often killed along with her partner. While men have also been victims of such crimes, the number of women who have lost their lives is higher. Even during conflicts we often see that a particular community is humiliated by violating its women.
Qandeel Baloch of Multan, a social media sensation, was drugged and strangulated by her brother Waseem Baloch who felt her activities brought shame to the family. Born Fauzia Azeem, Qandeel Baloch started with posting her pictures in clothes, which many in a conservative society may not have liked. But slowly she started talking about issues; about giving voice to women who have been treated unjustly by society and inspiring them. From merely being a cause of titillating sensation, she landed in the midst of controversy by talking about political issues. Her statements on cricket, which is closely associated with nationalism in Pakistan, landed her in trouble.
(Image source -HT)
A controversial photo of hers with the cleric Qavi attracted much heat. All this contributed to making Qandeel Baloch everything a controversial patriarchal society disapproved of. She was a woman who was sexually explicit. In the words of her brother, girls are supposed to stay at home and behave. Qandeel did none. Coming from a working class rural background, out of a bad marriage with a child by the age of 20, Qandeel decided to start afresh – something many would not have managed. She believed social mobility was possible. Her subversion on gender, class and religious aspects did not go down well with the products of a patriarchal society.
The fate of Baloch is another incident that proves what women in a patriarchal social set-up have to face. And such misogyny has seeped into social media as well. The anonymity that virtual media provides has been misused more often than not. Like women who don’t conform, Baloch faced a lot of abuse online. People who interact on social media often thrive on insulting women who resisted the codes of moral propriety. Many often blatantly wished a violent death for Baloch online. Like Baloch, other women bloggers, activists, journalists have faced similar humiliation and threat. A blogger was accused of blasphemy. Someone made her contact details public. Not only a case was registered in her name, she was harassed, hounded. The situation was such that she had to change cities and go into hiding.
Apart from a patriarchal society that openly indulges in misogyny, state institutions often fall short of addressing crimes against women. Lack of women friendly laws and security agencies, a poor conviction rate often plays a negative role. The Pakistani state itself is responsible for constantly curbing freedom of speech. It has often banned the sites of religious and ethnic minorities and time and again pushed legislation that often snub free expression. Such attitude has often led to self-censorship.
The boom in communication has made many things easily accessible. While people can enjoy their knowing about their favourite actors and follow them closely, it has also bought youths in touch with groups preaching religious fundamentalism and social conservatism. Of late, while many has been talking about the influence of easily available videos and lectures on radicalization, one cannot deny that many has been promoting an archaic idea of society whereby women are given a limited role.
The aftermath of Qandeel Baloch’s murder saw a society and an online populace sharply divided. While for many, Qandeel was a radical feminist, for many others she was a bad Muslim who had it coming.
Irrespective of what one feels about Qandeel, one cannot justify her murder by putting the blame on her. It is the attitude of people like this that could make Qandeel’s murderer feel proud of what he did. Women activists who started online petitions demanding stricter laws to curb honour killing were also threatened with rape.
Pakistan has already witnessed close to 200 honour killings this year alone. While earlier the law was rather lenient and murderers could get away with light punishment, an amendment in 2004 gave provision for honour killing to be punishable by death. In case of Qandeel Baloch and the outrage that followed, in a rare move the state itself became a complainant against Waseem Baloch. However Qandeel’s physically handicapped father feels that the accused might get away without being severely punished.
Like Pakistan, even in India the perpetrators of honour killing often get away. Families in the name of honour often indulge in such heinous crimes. The infamous khap panchayats have often been accused of perpetuating such crimes. States have been lenient in punishing the criminals. Political leaders have often indulged in lauding such caste based undemocratic panchayats. They have also made misogynist comments blaming women for causing incidents of sexual violence. They have ranged from the kind of clothes the victim wore to the time of the day or night she was out in public space.
One way of addressing the issue is of course, stricter laws and sensitising the Police machinery. But at the same time, patriarchy must be fought on multiple grounds – be it in the education, job sector or at the level of discourse. There is a need to understand that why any criticism of a woman starts with character assassination and then goes to rape threats. Like caste-based discrimination, sexist discrimination should also be dealt with strictly. There can be no ‘honour’ in killing.
The author is an assistant professor in Pramathesh Barua College, Assam. She blogs here.