Hate crimes – religions, nations, ideologies or simply media gimics!
Today, 21st Feb 2007, the top story on dig.com is: “Female Pakistani minister shot dead for breaking Islamic dress code”. There have been numerous comments on this story ranging from Islam bashing to Islam defending. The issue really is how come individual acts become “religious” act, and then the same thing becomes argument against a set of beliefs and, in some cases, an entire nation? How is this story being portrayed, as a news item or as an opinion on a culture?
Looking at the big picture, we see hate crimes in America, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa … basically all over the world. Sometimes it is religion, sometimes it’s color of skin and sometimes it just pure hate. A few years ago, there was a massacre in Indian state of Gujrat against Muslims which was preceded by a massacre of Hindus in a train (could’ve been an accident but that’s not really the point here!); does this massacre mean Hinduism is bad? I don’t think so. I also do not think that all Hindus are just out to kill Muslims.
In South Africa, even during apartheid some blacks did well. Not all whites hated blacks and wanted them killed!
There are numerous stories around the world which anyone can read and evaluate that it’s really about individuals and a few particular circumstances than ideas, religions or nations. Pakistan is not full of religious zealots who are out to implement Islam, even the devout Muslims who would like Islamic shariah to be implemented don’t like to “kill people” for it. Articles and news items such as these are actually more than just news items. They add personal biases of the reporters and paint the news item as an anti-nation article than a “news item” per se. For example, the last paragraph of the new item:
” But widespread discrimination against females continues to be a problem in what remains a male-dominated society, particularly in the countryside, where most Pakistanis live.”
This is simply not true. Why “enforce” a particular set of values on the culture of a particular society? It’s not true that women are discriminated against, in the country side of Pakistan. Women take part in all social gatherings and are as much part of the social fabric as men are. There are incidents where women are married off in arranged-marriages but remember that this is a society where inter-mingling of sexes isn’t considered positive (which does have a lot of positive aspects too!).
This topic could become a whole chapter in a course book on sociology. However, the purpose here is that these news items should be objective about a story and not include bias in it. It’s a very sad event and we feel sorry for the family of Zilla Huma Usman. She was an accomplished woman and was indeed a source of inspiration for girls in Pakistan. But by no means, this is a norm in Pakistan. No, people don’t kill you are a woman who doesn’t cover her face or is in a position of authority (in this particular case, we’ll soon find out whether the accused was mentally ill).
Pakistan has had a woman prime minister, education minister, social welfare minister… same with India, Bangladesh etc. How many women presidents did America have, or UK or Australia or Japan? Pakistani society is indeed quite opposite to what this article suggests. It’s a “protective” society rather than a closed, conservative society. Men respect women (in buses they would leave seats for women, in banks and other public institutes, women customers are treated with respect with separate queues, there are numerous examples) and make sure that they are protected. Yes, there have been incidents of killings and rape but statistically they are rare in Pakistan as compare to the western world and they have primarily been blown out of proportion by the media to distort the ground realities in Pakistan and tarnish its image. Why would the media do this? Simply to add some spice to their news items so that people have something to discuss. Sadly this is done at the cost of the reputation of a culturally rich country with impeccable record of social harmony and tolerance.
February 23, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I could not disagree more with the entire tenor of the argument presented here. This piece represents the views of the someone who is living in the forest and hence cannot objectively see the entire forest. In societies like Pakistan, women’s place, by and large, has been carved out within very narrow confines. To suggest that in Pakistan women have the same freedom as men simply belies reality.
The author states “It’s not true that women are discriminated against, in the country side of Pakistan. Women take part in all social gatherings and are as much part of the social fabric as men are. There are incidents where women are married off in arranged-marriages but remember that this is a society where inter-mingling of sexes isn’t considered positive (which does have a lot of positive aspects too!).”
The author uses culture to justify the status of women. Because it is part of the culture, it must be okay. Before things can make substantial, people need to stop being nationalistic and not see this as an attack on the whole country.
February 24, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I agree with the previous writer this incident has no justification for assuming a nationalistic posture.On the contrary this incident is a very sad commentary on the nation that claims to be “tolerant” .This is nothing less that “tolerance towards intolerance”Besides treating women the way they are treated it is a tremendous loss to the nation.They have forgotten that a hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
All I can say is that this incident should be regarded very grim by every muslim woman throughout the world
February 25, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Actually the article isn’t defending Pakistani society in general. The thing that article is trying to say is that yes it was a sad incident done by an “extremist” Muslim (who may very well be mentally disturbed as he had previously killed four prostitutes for the same reasons). The problem with the news is that it painted a grim picture of Pakistan as a country. Well, violence such as this is not just a problem of Pakistan, it’s there all over the world.
Let’s look at it objectively:
a. Woman being murdered for sport – http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ab6e3700-8f96-4d3c-a2ae-a4189a77d5b4
b. A girl raped and murdered by US soldiers – http://www.progressiveu.org/023355-a-girl-is-raped-and-murdered-a-soldier-weeps
I could go on … in none of these news items a country is being blamed!
No, I am not anti-US, anti-west, or anti-anything. What i am agsinst is news being reported as an anti-country. It’s just about the “tone” of a news item. Nothing else.
It’s not about being nationalistic, it’s about putting the facts straight. When news items such as these are written the way they are they put up a bad image on the overall country.
For instance, the recent bomb blast on Samjhota express happened in India. A lot of newspaper reported it as “between india and pakistan”! Well there is no “between”.. either it’s India OR it’s Pakistan. There is no neutral terrority between the two countries. So why don’t the newspapers just write “bomb blast on a train in India”.
This is what we call distorting the real news and adding to it reporter’s (or newspaper’s) own biases.