Thursday, March 13, 2014

What's more important - Famine in Thar or the objectification of women?

While the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) is doing its level best to undermine the women of Pakistan by giving parents/guardians the license to give away little girls in marriage and freeing men of the need to secure the permission of their first wives before admitting second wives to their harems, people in Tharparkar are dying from malnutrition. They don’t have food to eat. Young children are dying from starvation.

Tharparkar did not receive any rain this year and all the reservoirs have dried up, leaving it in a famine-like situation. Tharkparkar is hit by such a situation every couple of years during which they have severe shortages of food and water, causing starvations and eventually, deaths. This year round, more than 36 children died of malnutrition. Most of the children were under 5 years of age. Numerous animals and livestock died, forcing families to pack up their belongings and move elsewhere.

A lot of starved children and pregnant ladies have been admitted to the hospital in Mithi. Relatives of the patients admitted to the complained that its administration was not providing medicines and they were forced to buy expensive drugs. “We cannot feed our children, how can we purchase medicines?” The hospital also gave a statement saying they were facing a shortage of doctors, nurses and paramedics, adding to the frustration of the famine-affected people.

Although the Sindh government has declared Tharparkar a calamity-hit district, it is yet to take any concrete measure to avert further losses. Its announcement to provide 60,000 wheat bags to the drought-hit people of Thar is yet to materialize. The district administration is reported to have told the relief commissioner that 60,000 wheat bags would not meet the requirement of about 175,000 drought-hit families.

When such a situation is affecting the country where people are dying, why is the media diverting the attention to the idiotic “Islamic” rules made by the CII about how girls should get married as soon as they hit puberty and encouraging men to take on second and third and fourth wives? Islam never taught this. Islam always gave women a high status but this, this is degradation. This is pure humiliation and the people passing these fatwas know it. Just because they can’t satisfy their own sexual frustrations, they decide to make a law out of it?

I told this to a friend and she says so what? It’s not like anyone’s giving them any importance. But that’s where she’s wrong. When media is giving so much attention to something, people tend to take interest. And since we were all born with extremism embedded into our minds, people do listen, and then people take action. Next thing we know, parents are getting their daughters married at the age of 14. Husbands are taking 4 wives, because that’s what Islam allowed, right? Islam does NOT allow women to be objectified, but that’s what the modern-age mullahs are teaching the nation. And that’s exactly what’s being implemented.


But I digress. My point of writing this post was to create an awareness of the famine in Tharparkar district. People there need you. They need food. They need water. They need treatment. Please do whatever you can do help them. They are our fellow citizens after all, and if we won’t help them, who will? Help them, and spread the message. If the government is too cruel and ignorant to help them (and yes I consider giving them just 60,000 bags to be a cruelty, when they need, at the very least, 5 times that amount), maybe we should try and assist our fellow brothers. Raise awareness. Raise your voice. Do what you can. Save lives. 

1 comment:

  1. Awareness is needed and media needs to get his act right in showing everything in breaking news to get people's attention. Certain level of maturity needs to shown by them and also people needs to think what they voted in 2013 elections is again coming infront of them and this won't change as they keep selling their vote for 5000 and then living miserably for the next 5 years. Women was, is and always will be equal to Men.

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