A few years back a Pakistani, Mohammed Hanif, wrote his first book, “A Case of Exploding Mangoes”. It turned out to be an instant bestseller. Now he has come out with his second book - “Our Lady of Alice Bhatti”, which is of a totally different genre. It deals with social issues and especially with the plight of women in Pakistan.
Hanif says quite candidly that women are “shot at or hacked, strangled or suffocated, poisoned or burnt, hanged or buried alive” daily. He goes on to add that “suspicious husband, brother protecting his honour, father protecting his honour, son protecting his honour, jilted lover protecting his honour, feuding farmers settling their water disputes, moneylenders collecting their interest: most of life’s arguments, it seems, get settled by doing various things to a woman’s body.” (emphasis mine)
What a chilling portrayal of reality!
What he writes about Pakistan, applies equally to the situation in India. What a shame my fellow males!
Sad state of affairs but we surely can not turn our faces the other way purely because these mindsets are too difficult to deal with...
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the case of Mukhtaran Mai, the victim who had to courage to take the perpetrators of this heinous crime to court... but there are FEW and FAR between :(