Every day, Pakistani newspapers are full of atrocities against women. Hina Javed, a working woman employed in the National assembly, was killed, allegedly by her husband and father-in-law for reasons unknown. Probably they suspected her of having an affair with one of her colleagues. Or perhaps she refused to cover her head when speaking to her father-in-law.
Today's newspapers report that a man killed his own daughter and injured her father-in-law while they were traveling in a rickshaw. If a man and woman decide to marry without the consent of her family members, they are killed. I remember a worker of mine saying, "We are not cowards like you city folks, if our wives ask us to divorce them, we shoot them immediately". The reason of course is the belief that only a woman having an extra-marital affair would ask to be divorced.
If there is a dispute among two parties, the loser has to give the winner one or even two of his daughters in marriage. A maid in our apartment block had hired a female lawyer to help her getting divorced. One day her husband appeared with ten supporters, demanding that she hand over to him their three daughters. He didn't care that his wife didn't want to live with him any more, he wanted the three girls so he could sell them.
It seems that most Pakistani men regard women as inferior beings who should be treated like animals.
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