The brutal murder of a 12-year-old maid, believed to have been killed by her powerful employer, has stunned the country. But from the corrupt government to the honor killing of a wealthy woman, Fatima Bhutto says the country's rich always get away with it.
Shazia Masih, a tiny 12-year-old who looked years younger than her age, was laid to rest last week after a Christian funeral at Lahore's Cathedral Church. She had been employed by the wealthy and influential former president of Lahore's Bar Association, and for a generous $8 a month she cleaned her employer's toilets, the cars that filled their suburban garage, and the filth that collected on the floors of their home.
Her employer insists she died of a skin disease. Her death certificate says it was blood poisoning. The preliminary medical report fails to mention either factor as a cause: Instead, it lists 17 violent injuries, including bruises on her forehead and a swollen scalp and face, most likely caused by an object of "blunt means." More details have yet to be released, but we know now that Shazia Masih did not die an ordinary death. Local newspapers, obsessed with printing bloodied photographs of the dead in the place of obituaries, have run haunting pictures of the dead girl. Her skin does not appear to be ravaged by any sort of dermatological disease. Her arms, feet, skull, and chin are wrapped in gauze. She looks, in the morbid photographs, like a little boy—dressed in blue and white shorts and a striped T-shirt.
As grim as her killing may be, it will not be all that surprising if her murderer goes free. In a country where the entire top echelon of government, from the president to the prime minister, have been granted amnesty from corruption charges, murder cases, narcotics smuggling, kidnapping, and extortion so that they may lead Pakistan and pave the way for an obsequiously pro-American cooperation in the war on terror, why is anyone surprised that the rich and powerful are unaccountable? Why is anyone particularly horrified by the monstrous VIP culture that denies justice to the majority of the country and celebrates the injustices of the dominant, moneyed tastemakers?
We know that employing a child of school age in such demanding labor is cruel. We know that there is such a thing as minimum wage—even in Pakistan. We know that one can't, shouldn't be able to, get away with murder, but those things don't really matter when one is above the law.
In 1999, 29-year-old Samia Sarwar was in her lawyer's office in Lahore. She had been married to a cousin, a violent man, whom she wished to divorce. She had two children; some people say she had fallen in love with another man, a handsome army captain, whom she wanted to marry. Some people say that all she wanted was a divorce. It doesn't matter. Samia's father was the chairman of his local chamber of commerce and a successful and wealthy businessman; her mother was a doctor. Samia came from rich Pakistan. She had fled her marital home and was living in a women's shelter until her divorce came through when her mother asked to see her at her lawyer's office. Samia stood and waited to meet her mother, who entered the lawyer's building with the assistance of a young man Samia didn't recognize, and who her mother claimed was helping her, frail and old as she was, to walk. Once Samia's mother was inside the lawyer's office and in front of her daughter, the man pulled out a pistol and shot Samia in the head. He tried to kill her lawyer, too, but missed.
We have seen the photographs of Samia Sarwar lying in a pool of her own blood. Her lawyer, a respected member of the legal community, was witness to her honor killing. And yet the authorities have never made any arrests in the case. Samia's mother and father are free and respected members of their community.
There is a line that runs through our society—a visible marking that differentiates between those who can, and do, get away with murder, and those who have no access to the law.
Take Karachi's latest bombings. Last week the ghoulishly unelected interior minister, a business partner of the president, turned up in Karachi to survey the city after a particularly violent month that saw targeted killings and political violence between the ruling Pakistan People's Party and its coalition partner, the Muhajir MQM Party, reach fever pitch. Thousands of the city's security forces were diverted to protect him. Had the traffic police been armed, there's no doubt they too would have been enlisted to protect the sensitive minister, who came, saw, and did nothing.
Several days later, Shiites in Karachi were marking the end of Muharram, a religious holiday that commemorates the murder of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. Just a couple of months earlier, they saw their followers killed in Karachi's first bombings since 2007, on the holy day of Ashura. As they began their procession, a motorbike laden with explosives hit a bus full of Shiites. As the injured were being evacuated by ambulances, another bomb hit the gates of the hospital where the dead and injured were being brought. Thirty-three people died and another 165 were injured. Where were the security forces that day? They were not brought out in the thousands to protect a preplanned procession of the already vulnerable Shiite community. Maybe there was a politician in town who needed their services instead?
This is a country whose laws cater only to the rich and powerful. We knew that before the small corpse of Shazia Masih was buried in Lahore.
Since Shazia's death, politicians, most of them footloose and fancy free after dodging criminal charges of their own, have been screaming their shock and horror over the young girl's murder. But what hope is there for justice? Samia Sarwar's killers, her parents, have never been held accountable for their crimes. Mukhtar Mai, gang-raped by powerful and politically prominent feudal lords in her village, has been fighting for justice in the Pakistani courts for the last five years, to little avail. Add to that a state that serves only the powerful, defies transparency, and celebrates its criminals so long as they have the right surname or bountiful enough bank accounts. This is the atmosphere in which Shazia Masih's parents, a house-cleaning mother and garbage-collecting father with a combined income of $62 a month, will have to pursue their daughter's killer.
Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-08/maid-murder-rocks-pakistan/
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13 years ago
Its really sad that all this happens in our beloved country.
ReplyDeleteHowever what I hate most is when the Daily Beast Readers make 'Islamophobic' comments based on this article. It needs to be reiterated that whoever perpetrates crimes like honour killings, murder, blasts (as mentioned in this article) are not following Islam. So why do the daily beast readers blame Islam? Its the people who commit crimes that are to be condemned and not the nation's religion. In fact, a great deal of Pakistan's problems are because of a corrupt system which has thrived over the years and a lack of following religion properly.
I also fail to understand what Fatima achieves by telling the world of the weaknesses of Pakistan. If she had written this article in a national newspaper like the News or Dawn that was fine, but to show the problems of your country in a foreign newspaper is extremely foolish and shows the 'western slavery' mentality.Does Fatima expect 'alms' of help from the US people in response to her article? No- all you get is insults and abuses to your country and religion as can be seen from the comments of the daily beast readers.
Agreed as far as the stereotyped comments are concerned. However do you really think that by hiding such incidents from the world are going to help? This is the age of globalization, for better or worse everyone has access to whatever happens around the globe. As far as our own publications are concerned (specially the print) still there's lot to be done as far as freedom of press is concerned.
ReplyDeleteYou can't expect people belonging to different religions to read out texts to understand what our religion teaches; we have to show by practice what it stands for. Unfortunately, we have ourselves helped others (& continue to do so) exploit our religion.
Dear Fatima Arif
ReplyDeleteI cent percent agree that muslims have helped other people exploit our religion and a few 'Black Sheep' in the community give the whole country and religion a bad name.
But the point is that Fatima Bhutto who has the power of the pen and access to the foreign media should be clearing misconceptions about our religion as well as promote our country's name.
But sadly she just dances to the tune of the western media and publishes articles showing our faults and problems. Did she go further and explain in the article that all the perpetrators of these crimes are complete criminals both according to religion and society? No.
If Pakistanis of Fatima Bhutto's stature accept 'western slavery' and write articles in the foreign media which give a flavour of Pakistan as a failed state then what hope do we ordinary Pakistanis have?
I have always admired Fatima Bhutto's frankness and her previous articles exposing government corruption but this article shows like Fatima has surrendered to the US people and is begging for their mercy by telling them of how failed our country is...
What's being done to curb these black sheeps? Until when we'll keep satisfying our conscious by saying it’s the black sheeps we the majority are saints?
ReplyDeleteThat’s what you want our writers to sell to the world?
I can't understand what part of the article made her seem to be dancing to the tunes of the western media. (Her critics call her anti-America)And in this specific case what positivity is she or any other writer is supposed to be conveying?
Declaring any country or even just to portray that it’s a failed State is not that easy a scenario, the way you seem to portray. I am personally no fan of the western policies but blaming them for all are problems is just to take the easy way out. They are sure to exploit us because it’s in the interest of their own country, but how do they do it? Why do our own take their side? Personal rectification is the basic thing which we need to start looking at.