Women behind bars
According to a report published in The Post on March 22, more than 71 percent of the female prisoners in 30 jails of Punjab are awaiting or undergoing trial. This clearly indicates the paucity of legal remedies in our system. The Pakistani justice system is legendary for its delays and diversions. A majority of these women have actually served their sentences and more, but are still rotting in jails as no verdict has been passed. There is a joke in law circles that the closest anyone will come to experiencing eternity is the country’s court system. The problem is a strange aversion to settling cases. Judges pass them along to somebody else, and rarely dismiss lawsuits, no matter how frivolous. The result is judicial gridlock: Pakistan’s lower courts have a backlog of thousands of cases. The government must streamline the legal system or else the poor masses will keep suffering.
Nearly 80 percent of the more than 6,000 women on trial all over Pakistan are facing charges under the controversial Hudood Islamic laws that mainly deal with the crimes of adultery and rape. The unjust Hudood Ordinance has subjected women who report a rape to be jailed for lack of evidence. Promulgated through presidential decree by former military dictator General Ziaul Haq in 1979 as part of his Islamization programme to deal with a spectrum of sins ranging from theft to false accusation to adultery, the Hudood Ordinances are a volatile mix of Islamic decrees and Pakistan’s secular laws and are part of almost every court’s legal arsenal. These laws have been a disgrace since they were introduced. Hundreds of women are rotting in Pakistani jails for having committed zina (adultery) according to these Ordinances. They are, without exception, either poor women who have married against the wishes of outraged fathers and brothers or divorced women who have remarried and thus humiliated vengeful ex-husbands. The women also face countless problems in the prison cells. Mostly the jails are unkempt and lacking all basic amenities, substandard food is given to the prisoners and only a handful of them have access to a lawyer. Almost three quarters of these women are illiterate. Women prisoners are particularly vulnerable to custodial sexual abuse.
There is an increased concern over these high numbers and unless and until strict measures are taken to remedy the situation, this situation will only get worse. Women who have been held on minor charges should be released and concrete steps should be taken to ensure that women would not continue to be arrested on minor or false charges and that they would be able to avail more easily of bail and probation facilities. There is no system to document the numbers of such women; a database would be helpful in freeing women that may not need to be there. It is about time that justice is provided to these women prisoners. Women constitute a majority of the population yet their rights remain ignored, leaving Pakistan in the hands of an elite patriarchy. Barring a small elite cross-section in the upper echelons of society, most women do not have the luxury of even realising that there is an alternative. Unless and until these women are educated and made aware of their rights, Pakistan cannot truly develop. Democracy and development in Pakistan cannot be realised without the social, political and economic advancement of its female population. An essential part of ‘enlightened moderation’ is the emancipation of women.
Nearly 80 percent of the more than 6,000 women on trial all over Pakistan are facing charges under the controversial Hudood Islamic laws that mainly deal with the crimes of adultery and rape. The unjust Hudood Ordinance has subjected women who report a rape to be jailed for lack of evidence. Promulgated through presidential decree by former military dictator General Ziaul Haq in 1979 as part of his Islamization programme to deal with a spectrum of sins ranging from theft to false accusation to adultery, the Hudood Ordinances are a volatile mix of Islamic decrees and Pakistan’s secular laws and are part of almost every court’s legal arsenal. These laws have been a disgrace since they were introduced. Hundreds of women are rotting in Pakistani jails for having committed zina (adultery) according to these Ordinances. They are, without exception, either poor women who have married against the wishes of outraged fathers and brothers or divorced women who have remarried and thus humiliated vengeful ex-husbands. The women also face countless problems in the prison cells. Mostly the jails are unkempt and lacking all basic amenities, substandard food is given to the prisoners and only a handful of them have access to a lawyer. Almost three quarters of these women are illiterate. Women prisoners are particularly vulnerable to custodial sexual abuse.
There is an increased concern over these high numbers and unless and until strict measures are taken to remedy the situation, this situation will only get worse. Women who have been held on minor charges should be released and concrete steps should be taken to ensure that women would not continue to be arrested on minor or false charges and that they would be able to avail more easily of bail and probation facilities. There is no system to document the numbers of such women; a database would be helpful in freeing women that may not need to be there. It is about time that justice is provided to these women prisoners. Women constitute a majority of the population yet their rights remain ignored, leaving Pakistan in the hands of an elite patriarchy. Barring a small elite cross-section in the upper echelons of society, most women do not have the luxury of even realising that there is an alternative. Unless and until these women are educated and made aware of their rights, Pakistan cannot truly develop. Democracy and development in Pakistan cannot be realised without the social, political and economic advancement of its female population. An essential part of ‘enlightened moderation’ is the emancipation of women.
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