Women Mourn the Women Who are Targets

NEW YORK TIMES
Arshad Arbab/European Pressphoto Agency Women leave the site of the devastating blast in Peshawar, in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), that killed more than 100 people on Wednesday.
Sarah Hassan, 22, changed her Facebook status to “Why is this happening to us??” hours after the massive car bombing that ripped through a crowded market frequented by female shoppers in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday.

Ms. Hassan is one of many Pakistanis asking that question, and the latest spasm of violence in Pakistan cities has prompted new concerns that militants have begun to specifically target women in their terror campaign.

Ms. Hassan, who works at an immigration consulting firm in the eastern city of Lahore, said she is hearing more and more stories of loss. A friend lost her sister and father in a terrorist attack in Peshawar on Oct. 16, she said. “I could not even call her. I could not get myself to console with her.”

“I am depressed and think about all these innocent people who are losing their lives almost every day,” she said. Another girl she knew became disabled after suffering injuries in the suicide attack that targeted a university in Islamabad.

Shabbir Hussein/European Pressphoto Agency Students of International Islamic University left their campus after twin suicide bomb attacks, in Islamabad on Oct. 20 that left six people dead. Many educational institutions across Pakistan were temporarily closed following the bombings.
But Ms. Hassan did not think that the attacks of late were specifically targeting women. “They are just randomly killing innocent people,” she said, referring to the militants.

The threat of terrorism now loomed large in the cities, having crept from the northwestern edges of the country.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s visit served to feed fears in Lahore on Thursday, Ms. Hassan said. “The whole day we feared hearing about a terrorist attack here. This is no life. Our lives are getting affected and why,” she asked.

“This cannot go on. It has to stop. We want to progress. We want to have careers, but it all seems impossible now,” she said referring to herself and her group of friends.

“Earlier, we used to discuss boys or movies and now we can’t socialize or go out. We cannot go out for shopping. Parents tell us to stay inside our homes. What if terrorists start attacking residential areas now?” she wondered.

And in recent weeks, she said she has noticed a big influx of people applying for immigration through the consultation firm. “People just want to get out as soon as they can,” she said.

Maria Wasti, a popular television actress based in the southern port city of Karachi, agreed that the feeling of insecurity cut across gender lines. “I am going to the airport a little later. It can be bombed and then some can say that passengers were targeted,” Ms. Wasti said Thursday evening. “We as a nation, as people, are being targeted.”

But she added that women were also often reprimanded in the society for not conforming to the conservative views of the religious right. “If you wear sleeves or wear jeans, some cleric can come forward and tell you are not following Islam properly.”

She felt there was a lot of confusion among the people on the issue of terrorism. “We do not know who our enemies are.”

The militants who are condemned now were not too long ago dubbed as “good” by the governments of the United States and Pakistan, she said.

Arshad Arbab/European Pressphoto AgencyWomen at the site of the Peshawar market bombing.
“Our government is fighting them because America is asking us to do so. It all has a very scripted feel. Just like the way we write dramas and then act knowing what will happen next,” she said. “It is like a circle.”

But for residents of Peshawar, the car bombing Wednesday was yet another grim reminder of how ordinary lives had become so vulnerable to so many new threats.

“Our hearts are bleeding,” said Shazia Aurangzeb, a member of the provincial parliament in Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP), representing the opposition political party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Unlike Ms. Hassan and Ms. Wasti, she sensed that there was a significant connection between the recent blasts and women. “In our Pashtun culture, women are highly respected, but now they are being targeted.”

Ms. Aurangzeb’s feelings of grief were followed by anger.

And like many Pakistanis, her anger is directed at the United States as she blamed America for the woes that were afflicting the common people of her province.

“We are fighting an American war and killing our own people,” she said.

“9/11 was a security lapse of America itself. Why is America now punishing others?”

She would not be drawn into commenting on who she thought may have carried out the attacks in Peshawar and other parts of NWFP, but some Pakistanis have suggested that “We do not know who are the genuine stakeholders,” she said.

Pakistani officials have blamed Taliban for the Peshawar car bombing. Curiously, a Taliban spokesperson denied responsibility for the attack.

Ms. Aurangzeb said she was convinced that Pakistan was fighting an unnecessary war and consequently the situation in her native province was getting worse. “Only Muslims are getting killed every day.”