Terrorism That’s Personal
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOFNYT
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Terrorism in this part of the world usually means bombs exploding or hotels burning, as the latest horrific scenes from Mumbai attest. Yet alongside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed.
Here in Pakistan, I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part of the background noise in the region.
This month in Afghanistan, men on motorcycles threw acid on a group of girls who dared to attend school. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Shamsia, told reporters from her hospital bed: “I will go to my school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies.”
When I met Naeema Azar, a Pakistani woman who had once been an attractive, self-confident real estate agent, she was wearing a black cloak that enveloped her head and face. Then she removed the covering, and I flinched.
(Continued here. Video link is here.)
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1 Comments:
The acid attack on the group of schoolgirls in Kandahar outraged many prominent women --- Senator Amy Klobuchar, Karen Hughes, Laura Bush and others -- yet although it may only have been symbolic, it's a tragedy that the United States has not approved the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW defines discrimination against women and calls for action in education, employment, health care, law, politics, trade, and domestic relations. It is the most comprehensive international agreement seeking to support the advancement of women. The United States is both the only western country and the only industrialized nation that has not ratified CEDAW. The other seven are Iran, Tonga, Qatar, Somalia, Nauru, Sudan and Palau ... not a stellar group that the US has joined. It has primarily been members of the Republican Party who have opposed CEDAW because of concerns about abortion rights. Bush had Powell object to the Senate passing it.
This is a stain on the record of Joe Biden who chaired the Foreign Relations Committee that should have forced the vote. I have written to both Minnesota Senators about this issue in the past ... Klobuchar expressed her support but did nothing (but she did cry about the "acid tossing" event) while Coleman never responded (heck, he wouldn't want to have to express his opinion on something that his Foreign Relations Committee has done nothing on.)
Regarding the incident in Afhanistan, I understand that the Islamic law system of 'qisas,' or eye for an eye retribution may apply as the woman wants her attacker doused with acid.
These acid attacks seem to happen a lot more than the American press ever reports.
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