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Video Report - ایوان صدر وزیر اعظم شھباز شریف کی تقریب میں سپریم کمانڈر اور کمانڈر دونوں کیوں غیر حاضر ہوئے؟

Are Pakistani feminists reluctant to talk about marital rape?

In many South Asian countries, it is not illegal for a husband to rape his wife. Pakistan's feminist movement faces challenges in exposing sexual assaults that have been shrouded in secrecy.

Since the first "women's march" in 2018, the struggle for women's rights has grown into a large-scale movement in patriarchal Pakistan. Pakistan's feminists have been relentless in campaigning for the right to bodily autonomy, safer public spaces, and an end to violent sexual crimes.

Campaigns like #MeToo and #TimesUp have also given more women a public platform to expose sexual harassment and violence.

However, Pakistan's feminists appear to be hesitant in tackling the widespread problem of marital rape, which occurs when a husband forces his wife into sexual activity against her will.

Pakistan remains one of the 36 countries yet to explicitly criminalize marital rape. Others include Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and India.

Legal ambiguity of marital rape

In India's Karnataka state, a recent court ruling refusing to quash a rape case filed by a wife against her husband has given hope that the debate on outlawing marital rape move forward.

"Rape is a rape, be it performed by a man, 'the husband,' on the woman, 'the wife,'" the judge said. Although the move does not strike down the "marriage exception" defining rape in Indian law, it will require the husband to stand trial in this single case.

In Pakistan, the legal situation of marital rape is unclear. In 1979, Pakistani law defined rape as forced sex outside of a marriage.

In 2006, a bill to protect women was introduced, which redefined rape as sex without a woman's consent. Although this definition potentially makes marital rape a punishable crime, there was no specific mention of marriage in the change. The penal code remains ambiguous.Sara Malkani, a high court lawyer in Pakistan, told DW that there are "no known convictions on grounds of marital rape" in Pakistan. She added that official complaints of marital rape are few and far between.

"Even if a complaint is filed, the case does not go to trial," she said.

Rape hidden behind religion

In places where marital rape is not outlawed, many women do not report their husbands because they feel ashamed and know it will not be prosecuted. The religious context of marriage is also often used as a shield from legal action.

Shireen Ferozepurwalla, a marital rape survivor in Karachi, Pakistan, sought a divorce on grounds of "domestic violence," as marital rape is seldom considered to be grounds for separation.

Ferozepurwalla said her ex-husband would try and use religion to coerce her into having sex.

"My husband would tell me that the angels would curse me for denying him [sex]," she told DW.

"He would say if I pleased him in bed [that] I would go to heaven directly, and if he was angry with me, no matter what I did, I would go to hell," Ferozepurwalla said, adding that he used to forced himself upon her.

Haroon Ghazi, a right-wing Islamic cleric in Pakistan, told DW that in Islamic culture, "signing the marriage covenant in and of itself establishes consent" to sex. However, Ghazi added that battering one's wife is considered sinful.

Adding marital rape to Pakistan's feminist manifesto

Pakistan's feminism movement tackles a distinct set of issues during the annual march. The latest march focused on labor rights for women.However, the continued prevalence of gender-based violence begs the question of why Pakistan's feminist circles do not speak out as forcefully on marital rape.A women's march organizer, who requested anonymity over security concerns, told DW that one of the primary reasons that marital rape is not discussed as much is because it is not reported.The activist said that feminists do acknowledge marital rape, but women are reluctant to come forward because they are stigmatized for questioning the sacredness of the institution of marriage.

"Just because this is not a mainstream discussion, it does not mean that conversations around it are not happening. The contributing factors behind rape such as violation of consent are equally important," she said. The activist continued to say that Pakistan's feminism movement is a "people's movement," and that demands for raising awareness of issues must first come from within the people.

"This will only happen when we shake foundations, so women are comfortable in not only reporting it, but also living with the consequences of it," she said.

Zohra Yusuf, ex-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told DW that victims of marital rape are often confused about their own rights.

"Sometimes, women themselves believe that their husbands are entitled to demand sex whenever they desire," she told DW. "The lack of sensitization from authorities, and the initial reaction from the police to any instance of domestic violence is not encouraging," she added. Yusuf said that spousal violence often goes unchecked because law enforcement treats it as a "family matter," which makes it off-limits for outsiders to intervene.

However, feminists say that Pakistani authorities are slowly becoming cognizant of gender-based violence, but that Pakistan's social system needs to do more to provide support to victims within legal structures.

https://www.dw.com/en/are-pakistani-feminists-reluctant-to-talk-about-marital-rape/a-61449046

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s petulant ousted leader, is already plotting his return

By Mohammed Hanif

On a moral crusade, the former prime minister believes that anyone who opposes him is corrupt and an American puppet.

Last weekend, Pakistanis saw something they never expected to see: their prime minister, Imran Khan, in tears. He was addressing the nation on TV after being sent back to the national assembly by the supreme court to face a vote of confidence that he would go on to lose, to be replaced by Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier he had refused to face the vote and had dissolved the assembly, but the court declared his actions illegal. Khan refused to accept the rules of the national assembly, tried to evade a ruling by the highest court in the land and only relented a few minutes before the midnight deadline imposed by the court. He turned a banal parliamentary procedure into a nerve-racking, edge-of-the-seat thriller. He behaved like a child who realises for the first time that other children have birthdays too. Because he believed that if he wasn’t in charge of the house, he might as well burn it down.

In his subsequent 8 April address to the nation, Khan reiterated his claim that it was the US that wanted him out; he asked people if they wanted to be a free nation or American slaves. The US would never do it to India, he said. Here, he welled up, he choked. As a cricketer, Khan was always shy of showing his emotion. Even in moments of glory, he offered half-hearted high fives and reluctant, two-tap hugs. But when he became prime minister he learned to emote. And he became very angry. Approaching 70, he transformed into that angry young man who passionately delivers one contradictory sentence after another.

For more than two decades, Khan was an outlier in Pakistani politics, more popular with London’s posh set than Pakistani voters; a sports celebrity who wanted to be the saviour king. In order to get his dream job, he got rid of his idealism. Before coming to power he stated that he would rather die than go to the IMF for a loan; a few months after he did, he went begging to the institution. He surrounded himself with the politicians he had claimed were the root cause of Pakistan’s problems.

As prime minister, Khan avoided dealing with the country’s structural problems, instead going on a moral crusade because in his youth he had lived a life of sin in the west and now he was not only atoning for it but wanted to be a spiritual father to the nation. In his head he was not only the leader of Pakistan but also the leader of ummah (community of Muslims) who can also do 60 pushups on the go. Last month he lectured foreign ministers of Muslim countries about how porn was responsible for rising divorce rates. He himself is on his third marriage.

While in opposition he was focused, hammering away at Pakistan’s rulers on his pet themes of corruption and nepotism. In power he seemed restless and distracted, as if he wanted to be back on the street. He rarely came to parliament, claiming that he could not sit with thieves and looters.

Faced with a vote of no confidence, Khan waited for the army to come to his rescue. During his rise to power, the army had celebrated his ascent and protected him from his political opponents. There was a strong feeling within the armed forces that they had been used, abused and abandoned by the Americans in the latter’s “war on terror”. In Khan they saw a man who was comfortable dealing with the west, and always on his own terms.

But this didn’t last. When Khan fell, it wasn’t because he failed to deliver, it was because he fell out with the army. Khan caused huge offence when he wanted his own man to continue as the chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence. Any civilian prime minister interfering with the army or the way it wants to run the country’s defence policy is seen as the enemy. As soon as the army withdrew its support, opposition parties moved in for the kill.

Why is Khan not blaming the army for his ousting? Behind his petulant facade, there is a pragmatist at work. His party cadres are seething at the army for abandoning them, but Khan himself doesn’t want to burn the bridge that may one day bring him back to office.

Khan rose to power by convincing the voters that he was the only clean politician around, that everyone else was corrupt. Now everyone opposing him is not only corrupt but a traitor and an American puppet. Khan never seemed comfortable in office and now he has been sent back to the street where he can start his crusade to save the country all over again.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/imran-khan-pakistan-ousted-leader-prime-minister