Repressive social norms and traditions continue to stand in the way of Pakistani women´s rights and liberties, even those guaranteed by the Constitution. And when narrow-minded interpretations of religion are brought forth as arguments to reintroduce archaic ways, the fight for justice becomes that much more difficult.
There are hundreds of cases to illustrate the point, thanks to a generally pervasive psyche that refuses to accept women as equal humans—even though lip service may be paid to the principle. This was recently illustrated by a case before the Lahore High Court, which captured public imagination and made it to the front pages of Pakistani papers.
Saima Waheed, 22, an articulate MBA student and award-winning debater of a Lahore women´s college, secretly got married to Arshad Ahmed, a young lecturer at a government college. She was hardly the first purdah-observing woman from a conservative family to marry against her parents´ wishes, but the case gained prominence due to the position of Ms Waheed´s father as leader of the highly conservative Ahle-Hadees sect.
When her family learnt about the marriage, claims Ms Waheed, she was beaten and confined to her room for two weeks. Managing to slip away, she sought the help of well-known activist-lawyer Asma Jahangir (see Profile, page 53), who had the young woman admitted into Dastak, a shelter for women run by the lawyer and progressive-minded colleagues. Abdul Waheed Ropri moved the Lahore High Court for his daughter´s custody and won an order to transfer Ms Waheed to the Darul Aman, another shelter for women in Lahore, run by an NGO called the Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam. A bailiff and a police party were assigned to execute the order, and they went accompanied by Mr Ropri and relatives. What followed was drama. When Ms Waheed refused to go with them, Mr Ropri tried to physically drag her away. Ms Waheed and her lawyer managed to get into the latter´s car. Chased by the Ropris in two Pajeros (the bailiff was left behind and had to follow in a taxi), they rushed to the nearest police station.