Michelle Commiskey
Apr. 3, 2009
2: 22pm
The Taleban (a radical Islamic group) has recently beaten a seventeen year-old Pakistani girl in public. Not only did this beating take place in a public venue, but the whole scene was also recorded with a cell phone camera. This event has provoked wide spread outrage across Pakistan. “The incident illustrated growing violence against women in the north-western Swat valley which is ruled by radical Islamists.”
This married girl was accused of stepping out of her house with her father-in-law. The Taleban describes this act as un-Islamic as they only allow women out on the streets when accompanied by their husbands.
This heinous incident occurred just two weeks after a peace deal that ceded the small valley area to Taleban leaders. The prime minister has ordered an investigation on the incident but says that he will not cancel the peace agreement.
A spokesman for the Taleban in the area confirmed that the incident happened and was in accordance with Islamic Sharia rule. He also stated that women who do not follow [their version] of Islamic law should be killed.
So as to not make the Pakistani people appear as savages, “Most of Pakistan’s 160 million people are conservative but moderate Muslims and many of them are dismayed by such brutal actions carried out by Taleban.”
It seems as though the line of who’s the criminal is very smudged. In the eyes of the Taleban, the young girl is the criminal. In the eyes of virtually everyone else, the Taleban are the criminals and are abusing their power. As I respect people for having faith in their separate religions, a line has to be drawn where what your religion states and the norms of a modern world. For too long have women been the victims and no worldwide peace will be even in sight without both men AND women being equals, not subservient to one another.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6030741.ece
(also contains video)
3 comments:
This is ridiculous to me. It also shows how different our culture is from other around the world. this shows gender separation in its worst way. There is no reason for events such as this to take place, not to me.
I think this situation is quite unfortunate. It certainly shows the differences between their culture and ours. However, I do think their culture has its own distinct merits that can't be criticized by the West simply because we're too different.
This is crazy and I understand that they have a different culture than us, but she really didn't deserve to be beaten.
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