Adil Najam
Report from News (21 February, 2007):
A fanatic shot dead Punjab Minister for Social Welfare Zill-e-Huma Usman “for not adopting the Muslim dress code” at a political meeting here at the PML House on Tuesday. A party worker caught the accused, Maulvi Sarwar, and handed him over to the Civil Lines Police. Huma was at the PML House to hold an open Kachehry. As she was busy meeting the PML women activists, the accused sitting in the audience approached her with a pistol and pumped bullets into her head from a point-blank range… The accused, M Sarwar Mughal – popularly known as Maulvi Sarwar – is a resident of Baghbnapura in Gujranwala. Two police stations of Gujranwala and the Tibbi police of Lahore had booked Maulvi Sarwar for the murder of six women, but he was acquitted for want of sufficient evidence. His alleged spree of killing “immoral” women started in the year 2002. In his confession statement before the police on Tuesday, he said he was opposed to women holding public office. He added that after he read in the newspaper that the minister was holding an open court, he decided to kill her.
Sometimes you just wonder why! Sometimes you just want to give up!
I have been feeling sad and numb and down and dejected all day. I heard about the brutal murder of Punjab Minister Zile Huma Usman’s murder by a crazed fanatic some 10 hours ago. And I have been in utter shock.
I have tossed and turned. I had thought earlier that I would not even write about it. What is the use? When a society goes so mad that a woman is killed just because she is a woman, what can a blog post do. Just ignite more silly debates; more childish heckling; more immature point-scoring; trying to show how smart you are; or, more likely, trying to show how idiotic others are; reaffirming your own belief that you are always right, and everyone else is always wrong; single-track chest thumping; self-righteous finger-pointing. No remorse. No compassion; not a word of sympathy; not a shred of caring. All there is, is anger; getting high on our own anger; anger for its own sake; getting so very angry that you even forget what or who you are angry at.
But now I do want to write about this. We, as a society, have some serious thinking to do.
What killed Zille Huma Usman? Not religion. Not madness. But anger. Uncontrolled anger.
A society that seems to be fueled by anger. No conversation is seen to be legitimate unless it is an angry conversation. And the solution to everything seems to be violence. ‘Kill the infidels’ say the believers. ‘Kill the mullahs’ shout the modernists. ‘Hang them by the gallows.’ ‘Put them in boats and let them sink.’ ‘Death is what they deserve.’ We have heard it all right here. I suspect we will hear it again. That dastardly, self-righteous anger. This violence in the language, as Zille Huma so tragically found, becomes the violence of bloodshed all too easily. Today it was in the name of religion. Tomorrow it will be something else.
So, do me a favor folks. Give her some dignity. Hold your anger. Think about what happened. Ponder. And pause. For the sake of whatever is sacred to you; please pause!
An innocent woman’s life has already been taken by our inability to put a lid on our passions and our anger. Let us please not make a tamasha out of her death by making her a poster child for whatever ’cause’ we are parading for right now.
Zamanov,
Thank you for that beautiful response and great idea:
I hope Yasser that you can follow up on her story and let us know if there is any sort of scholarship or trust that can be set up in her name (she was a lawyer too) that we can make our contributions too. Maybe start a Zil-e-Huma scholarship for aspiring female lawyers/leaders at a local law school and let us know the details.
I have your email. Let me see who I can contact. It turns out that I found out today that there is a chance I might have met Zil-e-Huma unknowingly on Jinnah’s birthday party in Aiwan-e-Karkunan-Tehreek-e-Pakistan last year … so I might actually know people close to her.
[quote comment=”35332″]The murder of Zille Huma was discussed in the Senate last night. One woman senator from the ruling party, Kulsoom Parveen, had this to say:
[quote]”The government should take notice of the incident and a female relative of Sarwar should also be killed in the same manner to avenge the death of Zille Huma.” Dawn Feb. 23[/quote]
This is one of our lawmakers speaking! Should one cry or laugh?[/quote]
There is so much here that one could et worked up about. But nothing more shocking than this.
Please tell us how this person’s colelagues in parliament reacted to this idea?
Just proved that the original post was right, for too many Pakistanis the response to any problem is more violence and more bloodshed.
[quote post=”583″]Yes, but the tragedy is that these films are intended for a Western audience…I mean, if we really want to dismantle misogynism and other evils from our society ..shouldn’t the films be geared towards Pakistani audiences?? [/quote]
@Eidee Amin, I don’t know which film you are talking about; I must have missed that. But in any case, we can try doing what you asked to do. Assume that I’m your Pakistani audience; can you tranlate or transliterate Shireen’s anecdote into terms that are suited for me? How would that change anything? I would be very interested to know.
Farrukh,
So I asked you to explain how outrage against a crime against humanity on an internet forum could be equated to a violent barbaric event such as the murder of Zil-e-Huma Usman Shaheed Rahmat ullah… and all you could come up was a personal attack?
Let me inform you … as God is my witness your comment is absolutely without basis. I am demonstrating no such thing. Let god be the judge of our intentions. I am sure that if I were allowed by my conscience- which I am NOT- I’d rather not comment at all.
I do not have an agenda except that of my interest as a Pakistani citizen alone… it is the fact that unlike most people I happen to live here in Pakistan by choice that it matters to me what goes on in my surroundings. I believe in what Benjamin Franklin said: “My Country Right or Wrong– if Right to preserve that Right, if Wrong then Make it Right.
When an innocent woman gets killed for being a woman, we should not be waging battles of ideology- the way some have here… people who have been calling for a ban on Islam are as wrong as people who have tried to derail the discussion by attacking secularism for no ryhme or reason.
I am not sure why my comments- not at all personal attacks on anyone- which are merely expressing my absolute horror at something so dastardly and inconcievable to the modern mind … something which is happening right here in Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan, my Pakistan, my daughters’ Pakistan, have upset so many people here. Why can’t you guys just grow up and stop making a mockery of the Pakistani people?
Everyone and anyone will tell you that I don’t sound cool- if I sounded cool I would not evoke such a negative . If I wanted to sound cool, I would try and sound intellectual, quote Karl Marx or Grammci, make a few cynical comments and declare that nothing good will ever happen in Pakistan. But my domicile does not accord me such luxury. If Pakistan goes down, I go down with it. I can’t hide in California or Boston or where you guys are- I’d rather go down with the ship, but as long as there is even a single drop of blood left in my body, I will continue to fight for what is right.
Pakistan Zindabad
Quaid-e-Azam Paindabad
Long Live Shaheed Zil-e-Huma Usman
We condemn all such kind of violence,but i dont know why we put every induviduals criminal activities in religon frame,not all Mullahs are responsible for all crimes,such kind of crimes are in every society,are the mullahs involve in there too?
And say to my bondmen that should speak that which is best,no doubt the devil(satan) provokes strife among them,verily the devil is an open enemy to man.
(AL-BANI ISRAEL:53)
O believers avoid most supicions verily some suspicion is a sin,and do not look out for faults and do not backbite on another,Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?you should abominate it,and fear ALLAH,Verily ALLAH ofen returning merciful.(AL-HOJORAT:12)
One hadith i remember is this,the hit(attack) of words are more sharp then sword’s hit(attack).
Most of my brothers are involve in this here,are they not?
May ALLAH protect pakistan and all of you.