Trapped in Saudi Arabia: Mothers from the US, Canada, the UK fight To Free Their Daughters After Marriage Breakdowns To Saudi Nationals
New
Age Islam News Bureau
29 October 2022
•
German Coach Monika Staab Plots Global Success For Saudi Women’s Football Team
•
Muslim Woman Entitled To Maintenance Even After Divorce, Until She Re-Marries:
Mumbai Court
•
Family, Rights Groups Urge Release Of Tunisian Woman Jailed In Saudi Arabia
Over Pro-Hezbollah Retweet
•
For Iranian Women, the Uprising Was a Long Time Coming
•
Swat Women Won’t Be ‘Duped’ By Militants This Time
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
--------
Trapped
in Saudi Arabia: Mothers from the US, Canada, the UK fight To Free Their
Daughters After Marriage Breakdowns To Saudi Nationals
By
Mike Thomson
October
28, 2022
Carly
Morris has been trying to take her daughter back to the US for three years
----------
Mothers
from the US, Canada, the UK and other western countries, are fighting to get
their children out of Saudi Arabia after marriage breakdowns to Saudi
nationals. A campaigner says many don't get the help they need from their own
governments.
Short
presentational grey line
At
first all seemed fine when American mum, Carly Morris, arrived in Saudi Arabia
with her five year-old daughter, Tala. The child's Saudi father, whom she had
married and later divorced during his seven-year scholarship in the USA, had
persuaded her to come for a short visit. He had arranged a thirty-day visa for
them both, so that his parents could meet their granddaughter for the first
time.
Carly's
holiday mood first took a knock on checking into the hotel her ex-husband had
booked for her and Tala. Their room had no windows or internet access and her
mobile phone would not work there. Though Carly says she soon had much more to
worry about.
"The
week after we arrived he asked for my passport and my birth certificate so that
he could start processing her [Tala] exit permit. Though what he really did, I
later found out, was he transferred her to a Saudi citizenship."
Dual
citizenship is not recognised in Saudi Arabia so from this point on Tala, who
had been born and raised in America, was considered a Saudi citizen only. This
meant that under the country's male guardianship system she could not leave the
country unless her Saudi father agreed. It was soon clear that this was the
last thing he would do.
Carly
says her Saudi ex-husband began collecting Tala each morning and not bringing
her back until late in the evening. Left alone all day in her basic hotel room
with little money she relied on boxes of food he would leave for her. Finally,
after nearly two years of appealing to him to him take her their daughter home,
Carly began writing to members of the US congress and others who she hoped
might help her.
This,
she says, angered her former husband.
"When
he found that I was reaching out to people outside of the kingdom asking for
help, he abducted my daughter for a period of two months. He and his family
fled their home even. During that time he filed for custody of her."
In
the papers filed as part of the custody proceedings, the father denied having
abducted Tala.
After
failing to get any constructive replies from American politicians, Carly wrote
to the White House for help. She never heard back but her hopes nonetheless
soared when the US President, Joe Biden, visited Riyadh in July. That effort
too came to nothing, along she insists with appeals to US Embassy staff in
Riyadh.
Back
in America, Carly's increasingly worried mother, Denise White, has come to
believe that Saudi economic and political importance means US diplomats are
reluctant to act. The Gulf kingdom is one of the world's biggest oil producers,
which gives it powerful political leverage, especially during the current
energy crisis.
Speaking
from her home in California, Mrs White says she is deeply concerned about her
granddaughter's lack of education, after being told that Tala has not been to
school once in the past three years.
Carly
has also voiced fears about the psychological impact on Tala of being caught in
the middle of a custody battle in a country far from her home.
"I
can't get her to speak to anyone when social affairs people come here. She will
not speak to any strangers. If I try to do video for my family she hides from
the camera. I'm really worried about her socially at this point."
Statistics
compiled by the US-based Human Rights Foundation show that Carly is one of
nearly 50 American mothers fighting to get their children out of Saudi Arabia
after marrying Saudi nationals. That is in addition to many from Canada, the UK
and other Western countries.
The
foundation's Bethany Alhaidari, who herself spent two years trying to get a
Saudi exit visa for her daughter, says none have been successful over the past
year. Many, she insists, simply don't get the help they need from their own
governments.
"There
tends to be a sentiment, even in the US government, of 'You did this to
yourself, you should have known better'. So I feel like we face a wall a lot of
times with that attitude."
The
US embassy in Riyadh told the BBC that the welfare of US citizens was the
"highest priority" of the state department and that the embassy was
in regular contact with Carly and in touch with the Saudi government.
After
a long court battle Carly was finally given custody of Tala, but told not to
leave the Saudi city she is staying in, never mind the country itself. With no
funds of her own, she says she had become a kind of prisoner within her own
four walls.
"At
that point I had gone two years not even stepping outside. I sat inside this
hotel every single day. Not one person has seen my face… not one person has
knocked on my door".
Since
speaking out on this issue Carly has been accused by Saudi authorities of
"disrupting public order", with the prosecution seeking a jail term
as punishment.
She
is also facing another even bigger new worry. Well before meeting her husband,
Carly had converted to Islam and she insists her beliefs have never wavered
since. But just days after she won back custody of her daughter, her
ex-husband's father officially accused her of denouncing her faith and
insulting Saudi Arabia and all Muslims. Still unable to bring her daughter back
home she also now faces a potential death sentence, but pins much of the blame
on herself.
"I
was warned. Many people told me like, do not enter that country. If you enter
you will never get your daughter back. And I didn't listen to the warnings… and
I'm here in this situation three years later".
Source:
BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-62903758
--------
German Coach Monika Staab Plots Global Success For Saudi Women’s Football Team
ALI
KHALED
October
28, 2022
Monika
Staab, coach of the Saudi Arabia national women's team. (SAFF
------------
Monika
Staab has a dream that Saudi Arabia’s women’s national team will be among the
world’s best within the next decade.
For
the German coach, that could first be in an Asian competition, and then
hopefully down the line at the World Cup.
And
when that happens, we will look back on 2022 as the year that changed women’s
football in the Kingdom forever.
In
February, under the guidance of Staab, the national team played their
first-ever internationals against the Maldives and Seychelles in Male. And
earlier this month, they made more history by contesting their first two
internationals on home soil, both against Bhutan in Riyadh.
“It
was another step for getting good experience for the national players, because
that is what is lacking,” said Staab. “They don’t have many games, or they
didn’t have any or many games in the past. So we have a wonderful two opening
matches in the Maldives against Seychelles and the Maldives, which we both won
2-0. So we wanted to play in Bhutan but because of COVID-19 we couldn’t get
into the country, it was difficult.”
“So
then we decided to come to Saudi Arabia and play these two matches in Abha.
And, of course, Bhutan was a very strong opponent, they had just played the
South Asian Football Federation Cup. They came right after that tournament and
played these games. And that was a real challenge for our team to play against them.”
The
first match saw Saudi overturn a two-goal halftime deficit to draw 3-3, while
the second ended in a 4-2 win for Bhutan.
“I
have to admit that Bhutan were really strong, knowing our strengths and playing
a really good game. And our team was not quite as competitive as it was in the
first game, but in the end lost 4-2, and I believe every loss every defeat, you
can learn more out of it. And hopefully, it was a good lesson for the national
players, about what we still have to do to be really competitive in the AFC
Championship.”
Lack
of match practice was another factor in those two matches, something that Staab
is hoping will be addressed in coming months and years.
“The
biggest problem was that when we finished our games in the Maldives, which was
by the end of February, (at the time) they hadn’t played a match since actually
the end of September. So we’re talking about almost seven months. They didn’t
play 11-a-side,” said Staab.
“Twelve
players were involved in the GCC futsal tournament in Kuwait and then the West
Arab Championship in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia where they won the silver medal,
which was a great success for them also. But they didn’t play 11-a-side, so we
had a good training camp in Austria for almost 16 days and then for about 15
days we were in Abha to prepare for the two international games. But in the
end, if you don’t play the real game, 11-a-side, it means the experience is
still not there.”
Match
experience no doubt will increase thanks to the launch of the eight-team Saudi
Women’s Premier League earlier this month, alongside the 17-team First Division
(formerly the Women’s Regional League).
“So
now I’m very, very happy the league has started, we saw some incredible matches
in Jeddah, and here in Riyadh. So that is where most of the national players
(are), they’re played in their clubs, which is great. So that’s where they are
now getting experience week by week, to learn how to last for 90 minutes, to
have in the last minute enough strength and endurance to play the game over 90
minutes.”
The
establishment of these competitive league structures should lead to the
emergence of more talented footballers across the country, she believes.
“It’s
unbelievable,” said Staab. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for our coaches,
assistant coaches to observe every week the players, the performance of the
players we have selected. And also the players will be looking for, especially
young players who I think they’re gonna come up. I saw in Al-Yamamah already
two players which are very young, 15 years old. So that is what we will be
looking for in this league, to have every weekend some maybe new players coming
up, and especially the younger ones, because I think that’s the future.”
Staab
also highlighted the role that the Saudi Arabian Football Federation has
played, in particular the head of the Women’s Football Department Aalia
Al-Rasheed and supervisor and board member Lamia Bahaian.
“And
I’m so delighted and so happy this league has eventually started under Aalia
and Lamia, they made everything possible, that this league is going to be
played in a real league format, not just a tournament like we did last year.”
The
standard of the new league has been boosted by the participation of five of the
country’s biggest clubs — Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Shabab and
Al-Ahli.
“This
is a great development because now we are looking at (teams) which can have the
facilities, who are working very professionally, who are already established in
Saudi Arabia because of the men’s team. And now they’re willing to put up the
women’s game. I mean, it took Germany over 40 years before this happened — that
a very, very strong men’s team in the first division put up a women’s team.”
“It’s
just amazing what these women have done,” said Staab. “Adwa Al-Arifi, of
course, from the Sports Ministry, she is also involved. They have played the
game, Adwa, Lamia and Aalia, and they know what they are doing, and it is such
a pleasure to work with them.”
Staab
says that having a quota of foreign players, one that allows space for the
development of Saudi players, is positive for the women’s game in general and
should raise the standard of the local players.
Staab
has also recommended the setting up of three regional training centers in
Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam that will look to unearth domestic talent, from ages
5 to 17. The aim is to produce Saudi age-group national teams in the future.
For
now, the schedule for the senior Saudi team is about to get much busier too.
“I
made a calendar for the whole year. So we will have about 10 games in a year
(2023),” said Staab. “That’s what we tried to fit in, that’s what (the) normal
FIFA calendar gives.”
Several
matches will soon be announced for the start of the new year ahead of another
expected landmark date for Saudi women’s football.
“On
the 31st of March 2023, you will see Saudi Arabia’s woman in the FIFA ranks and
this is again another milestone, another big achievement for the women’s game
in Saudi Arabia. I just talked to the President Yasser (Al-Misehal), he was
very supportive, he said we need to play these games. They’re all very
supportive (of) the women’s game.”
Staab
has also proposed that a GCC Cup for women be established.
“I
think this will happen soon because Kuwait is working on a young national team
now. We had Oman … with their futsal team coming to Jeddah, the UAE have been
very strong in the last few years. And also Bahrain since I established the
national team in 2007. So they’ve been growing. So that will be fantastic to
play the GCC men’s cup as well as the GCC women’s cup.”
Saudi
Arabia is also bidding for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, which would mark the
Kingdom’s first participation in the competition’s 21st edition.
“This
will (give us) another four years from now to have a strong team competing
there, if they get the bid. So we will have to wait until April next year until
this decision is made.”
Staab’s
long-term plan is to play enough competitive international matches so that her
national team will be competitive by 2026. The ambitions go beyond that,
however.
“I’m
not only in charge of the Regional Training Center, I want the young players
coming up, because that is your basis, that is your foundation. I also took
care of the coaching education,” said Staab.
“We
have now done over 135 C-License coaches, 10 B-License coaches. Good coaches,
especially female coaches mean you will be having better players,” she said.
“So I’m really very keen on having good coaches, Saudi coaches, one day to take
over everything, so we don’t need them all from abroad. That they get experience,
that get monitored, they get kind of capability to develop as a coach because I
still believe in women’s football and you need female coaches. It’s also for
your culture, for your parents.”
“The
officials are dreaming of going to the World Cup,” she added. “Of course it’s a
big dream. I know Aalia, Adwa and Lamia would like to go as soon as possible,
but probably not (in) 2027. We have 2031 or 2035, we have to see how the
development goes, but I can see now we are running so fast.”
Staab
says a foundation period of five years will eventually bear fruit.
“This
is how you can achieve something,” she said. “If you work hard, if you’re
determined, if you’re committed, and have this passion and all these people,
and also the national players have this passion for the game. Let’s see how far
in the end we will reach.
“I
think everything will be possible here in Saudi Arabia.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2189686/sport
--------
Muslim woman entitled to maintenance even after divorce, until she re-marries:
Mumbai court
Vidya
Oct
28, 2022
The
court relied on three SC judgments to order the medical maintenance for the
divorced wife. (Representational image)
------------
While
observing that Muslim women are entitled to maintenance even after divorce and
until they remarry, the Dadar Magistrate Court has ordered a 40-year-old man to
pay Rs 50,000 for the dialysis of his wife who he claims to have divorced.
The
woman had married the man on May 17, 2004, after which she had moved into his
house. However, the man's family members allegedly made her life miserable. Her
parents were compelled to pay Rs 2 lakhs as dowry even after marriage. She
alleged that she not only suffered mentally but physically, too. Thus, a
divorce application was filed by mutual consent and she and her husband
divorced in November 2017.
Apart
from the Rs 2 lakh dowry, she pointed to other instances like negligence
towards her health while she was pregnant, which resulted in miscarriage.
In
2018, the woman’s kidneys had failed and she required dialysis at regular
intervals. So she approached the court under the Domestic Violence Act, stating
that she has no source of income while the husband is in the scrap business and
earns lakhs of rupees per month. She stressed that, in spite of a good income,
her husband had not made any provision for her maintenance.
The
husband denied all the allegations and said he had never ill-treated her. His
contention was that they were divorced on November 1, 2017 and so, after
divorce, it is not his obligation to provide maintenance or to pay medical
expenses as prayed by her. He said that she could earn it on her own. He
claimed that the woman had filed the application only to harass him. He also
contended that his family members are dependent on him and thus requested that
the woman's application be rejected.
On
the other hand, the woman said that their marriage was in subsistence.
Magistrate
SP Bhosale, while passing the order, noted that it is a settled position that
in order to be entitled to any relief under the DV Act, the woman has to prima
facie show that her husband and his family have subjected her to domestic
violence. “In this context, the woman in her main application has elaborated in
detail how she was harassed by her husband and his family members,” said the
magistrate.
Moreover,
the magistrate observed that the most important aspect was that “at this
moment, there is no document to support the contention of the husband that the
woman has obtained divorce from him. Whatever he has contended about the
divorce appears to be a vague statement."
The
husband had stated that the woman’s father had taken away the original Khula
deed and its draft was with him, but he had misplaced it. The court said, “This
vague statement without any documents cannot be considered.”
The
court said, "At this juncture, on this vague contention, we cannot come to
the conclusion that the woman has obtained a divorce, that too, when she
herself has denied that fact."
Moreover,
the court said, even if it is assumed that there was such a divorce, even in
that case it is for the husband to make provision for the maintenance of the
divorced wife beyond the iddat period." The court relied on three Supreme
Court judgments to say that even a divorced wife was entitled to maintenance.
The
court said the documents produced by the woman show that she required
continuous medical treatment while she had no source of earnings. “Till this
date, no maintenance has been granted to the woman. It is part of the record
that she has withdrawn her interim application seeking maintenance. In such
circumstances, considering the contention of both parties and the admitted
facts about the business of the husband and medical documents of the woman, it
would be just and proper to direct the husband to pay Rs 50,000 towards medical
expenses."
Source:
IndiaToday
--------
Family,
rights groups urge release of Tunisian woman jailed in Saudi Arabia over
pro-Hezbollah retweet
28
October 2022
The
file photo shows a Saudi prison on the outskirts of the capital Riyadh.
----------
The
sister of a Tunisian woman jailed in Saudi Arabia over promoting Lebanon's
Hezbollah resistance movement by retweeting only a post has called on Tunis
authorities to intervene for her release from the kingdom’s prisons.
Leila
Marzouki said he sister, MahdiaMarzouki, who worked as a midwife in Saudi
Arabia, was arrested in 2020 after sharing a tweet about a pro-Hezbollah
protest that had taken place in the capital, Tunis.
Leila
said her sibling was earlier this year sentenced by a Saudi court to 30 months
in jail but in September she was given a 15-year sentence following a new trial
on alleged terror charges.
"We
call on the Tunisian authorities to intervene in order to scrap the verdict and
secure the release of my sister," Leila Marzouki said.
Tunisian
human rights groups also denounced the verdicts by the Saudi court against
Marzouki and demanded her release.
The
Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) said in a statement that the verdict is
"a grave violation of freedom of expression," and a "crime"
against all Tunisians.io
The
LTDH also urged Tunisian authorities to press Riyadh to cancel the verdict and
free Marzouki, echoing similar calls by the Tunisian Observatory of Human
Rights.
Saudi
Arabia, once a big investor in Lebanon, has shunned the country for years
because of Hezbollah and its strong support within Lebanese society and
political circles, putting the resistance movement on its so-called blacklist.
Saudi
courts have in recent weeks sentenced several people to jail for tweeting and
retweeting posts critical of the ultra-conservative regime in Riyadh. Among
them were two Saudi women who have received decades-long sentences, and a US
citizen of Saudi origin.
Ever
since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became the de facto leader in 2017, the
kingdom has arrested hundreds of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others
for their political activism, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in
the face of international condemnation of the crackdown.
Muslim
scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind
bars and tortured as freedom of expression, association, and belief continue to
be denied by the kingdom's authorities.
Over
the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to target
activism.
Source:
Press TV
--------
For
Iranian Women, the Uprising Was a Long Time Coming
By
Kiana Karimi
OCTOBER
27, 2022
Demonstration
organized in Rome by the Iranian community in solidarity with Iranian women who
are protesting against the violence of the Iranian army in memory of Mahsa Amini.
(Photo by Matteo Nardone / Pacific Press / LightRocket via Getty Images)
-------------
In
“Shortcomings of Men,” the satirist BibiKhanoomAstarabadi proposes that men
stop trying to educate women and instead invest in edifying themselves, an urgent
task because “yours truly does not believe that she is able to edify men.”
Dated 1895, the pamphlet represents one of the earliest criticisms of
mansplaining in Iran. Around that time, Iranian women protested en masse
against a government tobacco concession that would have profoundly hurt farmers
and merchants. Women mobilized for other progressive causes and significantly
helped in advancing the Constitutional Revolution at the turn of the century.
But when it came to drafting the Constitution, their demands were completely
dismissed by the country’s leaders. In response, women decided to organize for
their own rights and agreed that they should prioritize education, marking the
beginning of the women’s movement in Iran.
If
nothing else has gone in favor of Iranian women in the 127 years since
Astarabadi wrote her pamphlet, her original vision did come true. In 2001,
women outnumbered men in university classes, and in 2012, they accounted for 60
percent of university admissions. More recently, the controversial reformist
politician MostafaTajzadeh predicted that the next revolution in Iran will be
led by women. While Iranian women are given ample opportunity for education, he
posited, they are also constantly slighted by the government, deprived of even
the smallest of everyday joys. They are not allowed to sing, dance, or dress in
public as they please. These contrasting forces will eventually reach a
breaking point. It is not clear whether Tajzadeh considers this a concern for
the government or for women. But that no longer matters: Women have taken to
the streets, with many men by their side, and are calling for the termination
of the Islamic Republic. Their uprising is revolutionary in spirit.
You
would think that if a Muslim-majority country is facing nationwide protests
against compulsory hijab, there must be lots of resentment toward women who
wear hijab on will. But that is not the case. This could be explained by the
fact that most Iranians know women who wear hijab by choice. It is so common
that by itself it does not say anything about that person. A woman may wear
hijab out of religious beliefs, but also habit, comfort, or family customs. The
recommendation to wear hijab is rooted in Islam, but the motivation to wear it
is layered and varies by individual. Put simply, the protests are about
choice—elective rather than mandatory hijab—not unlike the demands of abortion
rights supporters in the United States. When a woman in Iran shouts, “Get your
politics out of my hair,” as an Iranian living in the US, I could add, “And out
of my uterus.”
Since
I arrived in the United States from Iran in 2005, I’ve found that it’s
difficult to explain the distinction between elective and enforced hijab to
many Americans, who almost always associate hijab with coercion. I often feel
uneasy when I’m in the position of having to say anything at all about it,
because of the risks involved: If I speak against hijab, I might be painted as
an imperialist with low regard for my “Iranian roots.” If I dare defend the
right of women in the West to wear hijab of their own free will, I might be
considered an apologist for Islam. The line between the two accusations is
quite thin, and I, like many Iranian and Arab women, try to walk it. But for
years, I turned down requests from Western media to comment on the horror of
arresting and imprisoning women for improper hijab out of fear of adding to the
negative image of Iran, which I saw as a product of conservative media. And I
was equally terrified of the unintended consequences of speaking publicly about
it after learning that many criticisms voiced by Iraqi feminists were used to
justify the aggression toward their country. In talking about women’s choice
and freedoms, the price of any misstep is high. But I decided to speak up when I
came to understand that my silence was more harmful than helpful.
In
Iran, state-run TV networks continue to produce and uplift hijab debates. Those
debates always seem to end with the same conclusions: that hijab liberates the
mind from the base demands of the body, guarantees entrance to heaven, and
makes women look better. But in one state interview with a teenager that went
viral, when asked about her preference between Islam’s and the West’s notions
of women’s dress (with the assumption being that she would defend hijab out of
fear), the young girl responded, “Let’s not make it about West or Islam. I
think every woman should do what she likes.” In one sentence, she dismissed the
ideological polarization that has been central to Iranian politics. And her
sentiment is shared by many Gen-Z Iranians.
I
like to think that the teenager closed a chapter that started in 1936, when
Reza Shah banned all Islamic veils as a sign of “backwardness” and recommended
European women’s fashion, forcing women’s rights activists to clarify whether
they were on the side of Islam or the West. This is a burden faced by many
activists in the Global South. Perhaps we should dismiss polarization
altogether and return to a vision of global solidarity in which women are fully
in charge of their bodies, as the uprising in Iran seeks. The protests are an
inspiring example of what happens when, as one popular piece of graffiti reads,
“The body has risen.”
Source:
TheNation
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-women-uprising/
--------
Swat
Women Won’t Be ‘Duped’ By Militants This Time
Zofeen
T. Ebrahim
October
28, 2022
The
rise in militancy in Swat still haunts many locals with flashbacks of what they
went through 15 years ago.
Dr
Jamila Khan can recall every last detail of the day she and her family were
forced to leave their hometown of Matta, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s idyllic Swat
valley, along with thousands, days before the Pakistan army launched an offensive,
Operation Rah-i-Rast, against the militants of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
after the failed peace agreement with the latter, in 2009.
It
was not just the “excruciating” pain running with her braces (Khan is a polio
survivor) but the mayhem that afternoon that she recalls.
“We
ran with nothing but the clothes on our back,” and went to Madyan, a town an
hour’s drive from Matta, and stayed for three months with their uncle. She was
among the nearly three million people, many of whom fled Swat for several
years.
She
can still recall the indignity faced by “the women, the children and the
elderly — some of whom were being carried on the shoulders of their sons” after
they ran for their lives amidst the sound of deafening “bombing”.
“The
militants forced the burqa (an enveloping outer garment worn by women which
fully covers the body and the face) upon us, but that afternoon I saw women
running for their lives without covering themselves with the chadar
(traditional Pashtun cloth that envelops the body from head to foot),” Khan
said.
“I
never want to go through that again,” she said resolutely. “We will not let
anyone bring us to the brink, and this time, we will not be deceived.”
The
images of dead bodies on streets are as fresh as the hushed tones that echo in
her ears of elders talking of young girls from her family being kidnapped,
raped, and even forced into marriage to militant commanders and of defiant men
who were punished in the most barbaric manner including being beheaded and
slaughtered. The victims were then put on public display. “I was old enough to
remember many things,” she said.
“I
don’t think I have healed and come out of the horror of all that I witnessed,”
said Khan. “Neither has anyone else; we just don’t talk about it and have bottled
it all up.”
In
2002 a firebrand cleric from Swat, Mullah Fazlullah, set up his headquarters at
his village in Imam Dehri.
Between
2004 and 2007, he started wooing the locals, especially the women, through
several dozen illegal FM radio stations promising the Nizam-i-Adal (Islamic
justice system), not just in Swat but the entire Malakand division, of the KP
province, comprising the districts of Bajaur, Buner, Chitral, Dir and Shangla.
By 2007, the TTP had established its writ in the valley, just 160 km from the
country’s capital, Islamabad, while the 20,000 army troops deployed looked on
helplessly. The Taliban spokesperson Muslim Khan had told IPS in a 2009
interview: “We want to give women their rightful place in Islam”.
“People
say it was the women of Swat who supported Fazlullah by giving large donations,
even their jewellery, but no one asks why,” said Musarrat Ahmad Zeb, a
Pakistani politician from Swat, who had been a member of the National Assembly
of Pakistan, from June 2013 to May 2018.
Talking
to IPS from Swat, she said the TTP promised quick justice to the locals, which
they had enjoyed when the wali ruled Swat and had eroded after the princely
state acceded to Pakistan in 1969. Zeb is the widowed wife of Miangul Ahmed
Zeb, son of the wali of Swat, MiangulJahanZeb.
But
instead of giving the women what the TTP promised, they took away their right
to life altogether. They were forced to give up jobs where there was
interaction with men, they were forbidden from walking to the market unescorted
and adolescent girls were not allowed to go to school.
Twenty-one-year-old
Gulalai Noor is worried she may have to close down her beauty parlour in
Mingora, the capital city of Swat.
“We
had a fairly good clientele, but since the last two months, it’s a trickle. If
this continues, how will we be able to pay the rent and utility bills of the
place?” she told IPS over the phone. She not only supports her parents but also
pays for her tuition. Noor is enrolled in the two-year diploma course for a
lady health visitor programme.
Senator
MushahidHussainSayed, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Defence and
National Security, told IPS the “resurgence of terrorism” in KP was of “serious
concern”, recalling the sacrifices made by Pakistan’s armed forces and the people
to combat and contain the “scourge”.
But
the arrival of the Taliban is not new and not in Swat alone. “They have been
there for many years and are everywhere in KP. I have been bringing it to the
notice of colleagues in the assembly since 2018,” MohsinDawar, a legislator,
from North Waziristan, and chairperson of the National Democratic Movement, a
nationalist party.
He
told IPS the militants got energised after the Taliban took over Kabul last
year.
According
to a recent research paper produced by the Islamabad-based think tank, Pak
Institute of Peace Studies, as many as 433 people were killed and 719 injured
in 250 attacks in Pakistan between August 15, 2021.
Terming
them “isolated incidents of terrorism”, the officials claimed all did not take
place in KP. However, the TTP has claimed responsibility for a majority of
these attacks.
Last
month eight six persons, including a former peace committee head Idrees Khan,
were killed by a remote-controlled bomb attack. Khan was at the forefront of
mobilising resistance against the Taliban in 2007. Earlier this month, a
minister of GilgitBaltistan was taken hostage; in return, they demanded the
release of their comrades involved in the deadly 2013 terrorist attack on the
Nanga Parbat base camp, in which foreign climbers were targeted. They also
wanted an end to women’s sports activities in GB. “These high-profile cases
create fear among the general public and are very demoralising for them,” Dawar
had said in the assembly recently.
While
it was the “people’s resistance” that had “contained” the situation, he warned
it can get out of hand and become “even more dangerous than last time” if not
taken notice of now.
FazalMaulaZahid,
a member of the Swat Qaumi Jirga (a platform of elders and notables working for
peace in the region), has high hopes for the youth and women of the valley. “If
they come out as a collective force and are organised,” he said, no harm can
come to the valley.
“Today’s
youth are energetic and have seen or heard the troubles of their elders; they
will not allow history to repeat itself,” Zahid said, adding the people had no
faith in government functionaries who have done little to protect the hapless
people.
For
a few weeks now, residents from different towns and cities of KP, like
Khawazakhelaenter link description here, Kabal, Matta, Mingora, Charbagh and
Madyan, have been coming out to protest against the surge in terrorist attacks.
“At
Mingora, there were more than 80,000 at NishtarChowk; it was huge,” said Zahid,
who attended the event. “I am told the one at Charbagh was even bigger!”
“It
is heartening that people have risen against this resurgence and showed their
resolve to never again allow this phenomenon to pollute their society,” said
Sayed and the “gains of the recent past are not frittered away”.
He
informed that at a committee meeting held earlier this month, it was resolved
to “revitalise the counterterrorism apparatus”, especially the National Counter
Terrorism Authority, (responsible for making counter-terrorism and counter-extremism
policies and strategies). He hoped, there “won’t be a yawning chasm between
words and deeds” and the interests of the people and the state will remain
paramount, not “political expediency”.
But
these were only men, as the custom of segregation in public spaces is still
prevalent.
However,
said Zahid, in an unprecedented move, on October 21, a handful of women also
protested in Madyan.
Both
Noor and Khan said they, too, want to come out.
“I
think if there are enough women, my family will give permission,” said Khan.
Source:
Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1717352/swat-women-wont-be-duped-by-militants-this-time
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