Terrorism That’s Personal

This article is horrific, and similar to what I’ve already learnt about the treatment of women in the Middle East. It may be old, but it’s a chance to talk about the wider issues with women’s rights. While many think that women are better off now without the Taliban, think again.

While these pictures are not from Afghanistan but Pakistan, this kind of domestic violence is still happening in the glorious days of America’s ‘democracy crusade’. In fact, even though women and girls can now go to school, among other ‘western’ civil rights, the same men suited by the previous regime refuse to allow this. The result? Horrific scoldings and acid attacks on a scale not previously known. The general consensus among Afghan women is that it would be better if the Taliban were still in power. This is because they may have been denied what we consider the ultimate gender equality, though I argue we lack true equality, there was a decreased level of violence against women. And when the coalition bombs and grenades detonate in family homes, it is invariably the women who are injured and killed, being busy in the home (unfair but that’s how it is). At least under the Taliban, they say, we had our security and our safety.

But of course I could not stand idly by and talk about Afghanistan when these images are from Pakistan. The lines between the two countries are blurred, not just culturally but also geographically. Being such a desolate wasteland, if you’ll pardon the expression, Afghanistan lacks the steel walls we now consider borders. The change in country can literally occur from one area of dust to the other. So this is a problem in both countries, and is indeed the same across the developing world. The problem is, of course, a lack of education, respect and equality that we take for granted. It wasn’t too long ago that women’s rights were negligible in this country, remember?

The source of the text alongside these images contains terrifying accounts of the level of unimaginable suffering caused by this issue. Acid sales are only restricted in Bangladesh, and in most other places in Asia it can easily be bought over the counter.

I would like, in the interest of reducing discrimination, to point out the origin of such monstrosities. Acid attacks, rape and female circumcision are not religious practice. A muslim coming into this country follows no lines in the Qur’an dictating such behaviour. Why else would these practices vary almost precisely between different geographic areas?

Female circumcision for one has never been mentioned in the Qur’an. It has, however, been mentioned in several of the extremely unreliable Hadith. The Islamic view of creation is however very specific, and I am concerned by the ignorance of muslims engaged in such practice, that Allah’s creation is as it is supposed to be. Why would he create something that was not already perfect? What a way to circumvent the basic ideas of the religion, to engage in the mutilation of God’s work.

Amnesty International estimate that 98% of women in Somalia undergo this abominable act. In Uganda, that figure stands at just 5%. But the distance between their capitals Mogadishu and Kampala is less than that between London and the Costa Del Sol. The figures differ extraordinarily between states in Africa alone, and the same goes for attacks of domestic abuse. So there is one inescable conclusion: these practices are cultural. If you look at the core teachings of Islam, the religion of peace, you’ll find that mutilation, honour killings and other horrors at the extreme end of the misogyny spectrum aren’t exactly the ten commandments.

Basically, there is not a perfect world until this ends. The means to that end are extremely slow to develop. But Uganda and Somalia have risen from essentially the same cultural traditions and there is a clear difference. This mutilation is not specifically illegal in Uganda but severely frowned upon and publicly condemned by the government.

This is an important step. But we can’t stop this with bombs, which is unfortunate.

We are terribly good with bombs.