My heart Aches,
and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk
John Keats the English poet was inspired by nature and the singing of the bird Nightingale when he wrote the above stanza. But as we come to the end of the campaign of 16 Days of Activism against GBV, and in the midst of the campaign, as Pakistan rocked and swirled with the murder of a Sri Lankan, those of conscious minds their hearts also ached and pained.
In KP alone we held more than 30 events to raise voice against GBV trying to raise awareness that violence is against Pakistani laws. Yet despite all our efforts for non-violence, this one single tragedy vividly portrayed how the vulnerable are not safe. Women and children are vulnerable and so are the differently abled, the aged, the transgender and the minority.
The Sri Lankan was a minority. Outwardly it seems that it was a religious based violence, but in reality it was caused by Gender based Violence, because after all gender is defined by power relations. The power of the mob over the single vulnerable person.
Whatever happens in one country sends ripples to the other countries. That is why the UN has called a meeting on the sad incident. But cases such as George Floyd and the like are also cases of gender based violence. The Human Rights Council called on top UN rights officials to take action on racist violence. There was no international probe. Such issues have impact on all nations, and require a broader approach.
If we look at the situation in near Afghanistan, it is alarming. There is food shortage, unemployment , and cold weather has made it worse for all. Seeing the hungry children and women trembling in cold weather aches my heart.
No wonder videos are coming out of hopeless fathers selling their daughters as young as 9 years old for a mere $2000 in the name of marriage. Who is responsible for all this. The ones that froze their foreign accounts, or the ones that disdain the concept of women rights? Or the hunger that the families face? Leaders sometimes have to forgo their long standing stance on certain issues for a bigger goal.
As our esteemed poet Iqbal said: “paiwasta reh shajar se, umeede bahar rakh”, I would like us to have a hope for a tree of a bigger goal. The bigger goal is to protect women, children and vulnerable from hunger, from gender based violence, and from religious extremism. We have to consciously work not to allow negative social norms such as child marriage, honour killings, and swara which are all GBV to infringe our western borders, and cause to roll back all our efforts for non-violence and peace.
Rather we have to work with the influentials in Afghanistan so that positive social norms such as education for girls and women, respect for women and mothers, and family cohesion, are prioritized. If we can connect the influencers through diplomatic channels, refugee forums, trade partners, and women groups, we can have a mutual productive, fruitful and positive impact on our joint social norms.
This can sustain the peace that was achieved with so much sacrifices by both the countries. This can send positive ripple effects to all other nations, and other nations can learn from us, that how women of both the nations worked to sustain peace by espousing and upholding values that contribute to peace as against violence especially GBV. Say no to GBV.
