Victims lose Pakistan’s culture wars as right-wing wins domestic violence debate
https://arab.news/2nabz
At the end of June, when the ‘Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2021’ was laid before the senate for approval, JUI-F Senator Attaur Rehman stood up to speak. He was angry. He railed against a ‘European law’ being imported into Pakistan, threatening to rupture family and society. “If the honorable minister Dr. Shireen Mazari has not been able to make a home for herself, why doesn’t she want others to make a home for themselves?” There was, rightfully so, an eruption of objections from the treasury and opposition benches. The maulana was asked to apologize; he did, albeit with a gotcha smirk.
The maulana – and various others from the JUI-F and JI – believe the bill allows the state and courts to interfere in domestic spaces, where more often than not, the male head of the household has control and therefore power. You attack our personal fiefdom, we will attack you, was the underlying hook to Maulana Attaur Rehman’s taunt directed at the human rights minister. Men as a collective versus the singular female head of the ministry that moved the bill. The personal is always political. The maulana probably hasn’t studied second-wave feminism, but he sure did manifest its spirit.
This should’ve been it really. Presented by the human rights minister in April, the bill had gone through the National Assembly and various committees before landing in the senate-- except outrage erupted on social media, with the hashtag #DomesticViolenceBillRejected led by leaders of various right-wing political parties and commentators such as journalist Ansar Abbasi. The prime minister took notice and the bill was sent to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) to vet. It’s worth noting here that the CII only has the power to give recommendations, which are not binding. It’s also worth noting the council’s recommendations on the permissibility of beating wives, or the CII-approved domestic violence bill in KP gives an indication on where this will go.
Broadly, the right-wing political parties’ objections to the bill are the belief that what is private should be resolved in private without the mediation of the state officers or the courts. This implies that either no crime is committed behind closed doors, or that the law of the land does not apply within the confines of ‘chaar dewaari’, or the four walls of the home. So if abuse, threats, and violence should not be punished, that means they are either used to hold together the domestic structure of power, or resolved within.
A quick read of the contested bill shows that an “aggrieved person” does not just include women, but children, any vulnerable person, or even “any other person” who is in a domestic relationship. That could also mean men. The law further elaborates on what constitutes ‘emotional, psychological and verbal abuse, such as ridicule, insults, threats of divorce or a second marriage, stalking or harassment.
Just as the source of these culture wars is social media, ‘public pressure’ appears to be applied from the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Someone or something is bound to emerge bloodied and bruised. The most recent victim is the domestic violence bill 2021.
Amber Rahim Shamsi
Most of these offenses can already be found in Pakistan’s penal code, for those that aren’t, the law provides a standard punishment depending on the severity of the crime left to the discretion of the courts. Key to the law are protection committees and protective custody, the first to provide legal assistance, and the second to prevent further violence and abuse.
Note that the bill applies only to Islamabad, and each of the provinces already have their own versions of domestic violence laws, including protection committees. The question then would be, what is the fuss?
In the context of the more expansive culture wars taking place in Pakistan, the furor over a law that would only apply to the capital city begins to make sense. Some would argue that the right-wing backlash against pro-women legislation isn’t new. It isn’t. But what is new is the assertion of women in public spaces, in offices, in the media, in positions of power, on social media and through organized protests.
Pakistan’s culture wars are more vociferously played out on social media, that common public space where zingy one-liners, hashtags, memes and threads battle it out. Sure, clashes on morality or life choices get airtime too, or take place on the floor of the chandeliered halls of parliament, their carpeted parliamentary committee rooms, on the streets when feminist marches need to be protected from rival right-wing protests, or the anti-Valentine’s Day marches that oddly don’t need to be protected.
But the source, the rallying, the recruitment, the narrative-building, happens on social media. Just as the source of these culture wars is social media, ‘public pressure’ appears to be applied from the likes of Twitter and Facebook. Someone or something is bound to emerge bloodied and bruised. The most recent victim is the domestic violence bill 2021.
Thus the winner appears to be the right that does not believe the state should be allowed to criminalize domestic spaces, and yet is quick to virtually or legally lynch women over personal choices of wardrobe or lifestyle. The winner is the right whose anger is considered valid, for fear of its street power, for the votes.
The losers are victims of sexual and domestic violence. The losers are women whose anger is not considered valid, because their votes don’t matter, or their outrage or voices are disregarded. The PTI government has shown us again and again which side they are backing in the culture wars, when calls for the removal of a police officer for victim-blaming go unheeded, when women are told criticizing the prime minister for his take on a woman’s attire being responsible for sexual violence is a symptom of ‘liberal corruption’.
In the culture wars, the victims and the vulnerable are collateral damage for the politics of appeasement.
– Amber Rahim Shamsi is an award-winning multimedia journalist who hosts the Newswise news and current affairs show on Dawn News. She has worked with the BBC World Service as a bilingual reporter, presenter and producer.
Twitter: @AmberRShamsi
