I
call on the loyal journalists of the women’s lib,
the sympathizing leaders of distressed and unhappy woman
hood, the supporting NGO volunteers of helpless ladies,
the ministers who give out million Rupee apartments
to shelter-less females; whose loud claims of compassion,
kindness, and selfless-ness are resounding in the media……..I
call upon you, if you can find the time, to sit and
ponder over your conduct: what kind of sympathy is this
that is exclusive to the inexperienced and naïve
daughters who forget everything once they jump into
the mires of disgrace? They forget what their religion
says, their family and social values, their social responsibility,
the demands of chastity and maidenliness, their young
brothers and sisters, they do not stop to think about
any of these. They forget the mother who brought them
in the world, who nurtured them to young womanhood,
gave them appropriate education, put away their own
jewels for their daughters’ future, hoarded things
from their meager allowances to keep for their daughters’
dowry; they forgot the father who agonized over their
future and their chastity, who spent angst-ridden nights
praying for their prospects, who had eyed many as potentials
for them, made inquiries into many a family backgrounds………..one
day, these loving, caring, worrying parents hear the
stunning news that their darling daughter has run away
and contracted a “Love Marriage”.
They know full well that this man who has taken off
with their daughter with proclamations of love and loyalty
is a liar, a swindler, a libertine, a shameless cheat
who will throw their daughter by the wayside, accusing
her of being a “runaway miss” before a couple
of years are out, only to entice some other unfortunate
maiden. Their daughter will come home with the ignominy
of divorce and the pain of rejection. She will be here
nor there with a dark future for herself and her sisters
too. Their experienced and weathered parents have seen
dozens of such young men who “enjoy” themselves
in the name of marriage.
It has also come about that some of these girls ended
up in the dark alleys; dancing away the nights before
strange men. It has also come about that a few cheap
compliments and a few insincere promises coerced these
girls, whose mutilated bodies were later found in canals
or sewerages. It has also happened that the same faces
that had been called beauty itself turned into ugliness
after a few squirts of acid from lewd hands.
The selfless parents wish to save their daughters from
this road to destruction in shameless hands….but….when
such parents try to prevent a daughter dazed by ungodly
trends in the name of “love”, to keep her
in the safety of home, suddenly everyone is astir….from
the hot bed of journalism, the stage of politics, from
the mansions of ministers, from the taverns of NGO’s;
comes a medley of voices.
Oh no! these parents are out of their senses, they are
not sympathetic, they are oppressors, they are merciless,
obstacles in the way of love, relics of old times, they
cannot live up to the new times……….away
with them! We don’t need such purists, we don’t
have a place for them in our modern age.
Think! Is this not the same outlook taken by an honorless
nation to the teachings of their great prophet who taught
them morality? That nation said about their prophet:
“The people of his nation spoke and they had nothing
(better) to say than this, that drive out the family
of Lot from your town, (because) they wish to become
chaste”
(An Nahal)
Everyone is shooting their mouth off, leaders, ministers,
journalists, NGO workers, there seems to be a sort of
contest going on with a host of offers on hand for absconding
females….some are presenting delectable jobs,
some are offering houses, others are giving out visas.
They are being asked for interviews, photo sessions
to improve newspaper circulations, hot stories of the
whole farce. The poor parents are lamenting to the high
intellects of journalists, to the new age leaders, to
spare them the disgrace and shame of having the name
of their families splattered on TV, radio, and papers.
To spare them the pain of having their daughters made
a laughing stock, or being presented in the guise of
a model girl or actress. But no one listens. From Islamabad
to Karachi, from Karachi to London, people are harping
on the same thing. A naive girl is being made the springboard
for personal and political attacks. Why don’t
these brainy journalists and broad minded politicians
stop to think what destruction of young minds and morals
their support of the matter is causing? Have they forgotten
the injunction of Allah:
“Lo! Those who love that slander should be spread
among the believers, theirs will be a painful punishment
in this world and the Hereafter. Allah knows and you
do not know.”
(Surah al-Noor)
The result of this open backing of immodesty is that
the younger sister of the same girl who was being projected
as a star, has rebelled against her parents and refused
to live under their protection.
Is this sympathy, to coerce young girls to run away
from their homes and destroy the fabric of family life?
Why have the real tragedies of tribal, rural, and urban
women been ignored in favor of misleading stories that
lead to obscenity, indecency, and ignorance?
I call on the loyal journalists of the women’s
lib, the sympathetic leaders of distressed and unhappy
woman hood, the supporting NGO volunteers of helpless
ladies, the ministers who give out million Rupee apartments
to shelter-less females…………….
if you have any compassion in you, then try and do something
about those genuinely distressed and oppressed women
who are dying for a mouthful of food, those who die
a new death every day.
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