When rape happens in Pakistan it is always the woman’s fault. The increasing threat of rape and violence towards women in Pakistan is something Sister Nazreen Daniels witnesses every day but she is determined to continue supporting the victims of abuse, writes Eva Maria Kolman.
SISTER Nazreen Daniels of the Loretto Sisters is an educated woman.A native of Pakistan, she wrote her doctoral thesis in Holland. Now, back in the land of her birth, she works in the Diocese of Faisalabad to support girls and women who have been the victims of violence.
“Just recently, a 13-year- old girl came to me who was already in her fifth month of pregnancy after rape,” recounts Sister Nazreen.
One can tell that the sister is moved by the fate of every individual. Kiden – that was the girl’s name – went to work as a cleaner in the homes of other families. (Child labour is a topic in its own right). One day she was called into a house to perform her duties.
One of the sons of the family raped her. This happened several more times. Finally she became pregnant. “It was not until she was in her fifth month that she revealed herself to us. We took care of the girl, and took her to a doctor and a psychiatrist.”
When the baby was born, fate dealt the 13-year-old mother a further blow. The child – a little boy – died. “What kind of future awaits a girl who has been raped? Perhaps she can be married off to an old man,” said Sr Nazreen.
Not long ago, she cared for another raped girl who was only eight years old. In a society in which virginity plays an important role, such girls have reached the end of the road before their lives had even begun.
“It still often happens that after the first night the sheets of the marriage bed with their spots of blood are openly displayed. If it turns out that the bride was no longer a virgin, she is sent back to her family.”
“Rape victims cannot expect justice. Rape can only be proved if there are numerous eye-witnesses. But naturally, such crimes are not committed in public, so the woman has no chance.How is she supposed to prove that she is tell- ing the truth?” said the religious sister, outraged.
Victims are often also threatened with the blasphemy law. They are told: “If you do not keep quiet, we will say you have insulted the Prophet.” Since everybody knows that insulting
Islam in Pakistan is punished with life imprisonment or even the death penalty, the victims do not speak out.
Whatever happens, it is always the woman’s fault. It is her fault when she is raped, and it is also her fault when a marriage fails to produce children. It never occurs to anybody that the male might also be infertile.
“If a woman fails to become pregnant, the husband takes a second wife. The first wife is then treated like a slave in the household,” the sister reports. She even knows of a case in which the wife was locked in the stalls with the cattle. Nobody spoke with her for years on end.
Moreover, in Pakistan, nearly a thousand women are murdered every year in the name of so-called “honour”. Deliberate mutilation, too, is not an infrequent occurrence. Women have their nose cut off or their face burnt with acid because they refused a marriage, for example, or fell in love with an undesirable person.
Domestic violence is the rule, not the exception.
There are no reliable statistics because it takes place behind closed doors, but Sister Nazreen points out: “Women learn from childhood that the male has the right to beat them and mistreat them. They perceive themselves as the man’s property. If their husband gives them water to drink, they drink it. If he gives them none, they go thirsty. Sometimes I ask them: ‘What do you think?’ They reply: ‘Sister, we do not think’”
In the women’s refuge in Faisalabad which is supported by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a poster is on display: “We fight against rape! Show no one your bare shoulder!” Sr Nazreen knows only too well how many men in Pakistan look at women.
“They rape us with their eyes,” is her summary. A few centimetres of visible female skin ought not to be interpreted as an invitation to rape – but it will be a long time before the males in this society understand this. Until then, women must protect themselves by covering up and, if possible, never going anywhere alone. This also protects them against kidnapping, which is another danger faced by women. In some districts, even religious sisters wear a veil over their face.
The growth of extremism in Pakistani society also threatens those few things that women have already accomplished.
Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad reports to ACN: “For Islamic extremists, women’s education is a thorn in the flesh. In the north- west of the country, dozens of schools for girls have already been attacked in order to stop girls from attending school and ensure that they stay at home.”
It is above all the Catholic Church that stands up for the dig- nity of women in Pakistan. School education for girls, sewing courses for women in the urban slums, concrete aid for rape victims, but also working to spread an awareness that women, too, are persons created by God and possessing their own dignity – the Church does all these things.
ACN supports Pakistani religious sisters by providing vehicles so that they are not required to go on foot or by public transport to visit the places where the poorest of the poor live – an extremely dangerous activity, exposing them every day to the risk of being harassed, attacked, raped or kidnapped.
Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action. The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings and help to train seminarians. For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. E-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148.