Mastuj: Married girl poisoned to death?
CHITRAL, Feb 14: A teenage girl was allegedly poisoned to death by her parents after she married a boy of her choice without the consent of her parents.
Reports said on February 11, the teenage girl from Mastuj was brought to the BHU in the same village (Mastuj) in a very critical condition. The doctor on duty tried her best to save her life but it was too late. She died and despite report to the police, her dead body was buried without a postmortem. The BHU sources on condition of anonymity told chitraltoday that the girl was poisoned, possibly mixed with food. It was further disclosed that the girl had married a person from the Ismaili community on her own will without the consent of her parents. However, it was reconciled and her parents permitted her to come to their home with her beloved husband and they were living with her parents at the time of the incident. According to her husband, he found her unconscious on the morning of February 11 and immediately took her to the BHU, where she died.
It has further been learnt that the local members of her parents’ community intervened and did not allow the police to hold an investigation into the incident and took away the body for burial. None of her close relatives was present on the occasion except her husband.
We want Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali to take up the issue of the girl who committed suicide after she was tortured by her parents, relatives and others who hate Ismailis as much as they could. Maulana Saheb could be seen protesting on GT Road in Peshawar along with his seminary students against petty issues. This is not the stature of a leader who ignore a burning issue like the rising incidences of suicide among girls in Chitral.
After reading Farhan Ahsan and Omer Khalid, I have nothing to say except dedicating the following beautiful verse of my favourite Habib Jaib, where he has rightly described the actual face of the cleric. Read it, read it and again and again. I love this poem. I salute Jalib for this and I am sure the molvi brigade will also enjoy this. Just read it bro and just chill.
Bahut ham nei suni hei aap ki taqreer Maulana
Badalty phir nehi apni taqdeer Maulana
Khudara shukar ki talqeen apnei paas hi rakhein
Yeh lagty hei ban k merei seenei mei teer maulana
Nehi mei bol sakta jhoot is darja ditayi sei
Yehi hei jirum mera aur yehi taqseer maulana
Haqeeqat kya hei yeh tao aap janei aur Khuda janei
Sunna hei Jimmy Karter aap ka hei peer maulana
Karoron kyon nehi mil ker Falasteene (Palestine) k liyei lartei
Dua hi sei faqat kat-tee nehi zanjeer maulana.
The frustration of poor Maulana and his ruthless supporters can be judged from their comments following the letter written by Mr Zulfiqar Ahmad. If Maulana Chitrali had done anything even by mistake during his stint as an MNA, he must share it with us. The self-proclaimed contractors of Islam should be ashamed of themselves for his dubious polices. He is yet to differentiate what the word ‘leadership’ means? A leader supposed to be a neutral person, for whom the sect like Sunni, Shia, Christian etc does not matter. But when Maulana Chitrali will understand this. If Maulana Sab is so brave he should stand up and take up the issue of the girl who ended her life due to hatred of his family after she married an Ismaili boy. I assure you that I will stand up against those opposing him if he takes to task the culprits involved in the killing of the poor girl in Mastuj. Talking tall is easy but it is very difficult to prove oneself. Maulana has no guts to call a spade a spade. I think this is enough to those who blindly support the clerics.
The molvi brigade seems to be furious after going through Mr. Zulfiqar Ahmad’s comment. As brother Salman Ali has rightly pointed out that some ‘will be angry, others will shake their heads in disbelief or disapproval’ because the writer has just exposed them. Maulana Chitrali was the only MNA in the history of Chitral who resorted to discrimination when he was in parliament. He completely ignored the Ismaili dominated areas and shifted all the development funds to the Ahtak water channel. It was Nilofar Bakhtiar, the then federal minister for woman development, who raised the issue of women suicides in Chitral from different platforms but Maulana kept on sleeping. I would like to tell all the supporters of Maulana not to befool people in the name of religion. A defeat in the elections awaits him as now Gen Musharraf will clean sweep in Chitral.
@ Zulfiqar: Please refrain yourself from passing rhetoric comments. The topic is somethig else and here we don’t want you to show us your hatred for the maulana sab by vilifying him.
The very first two comments have drawn a complete picture regarding the increasing and alarming situation Chitral is facing. It is indeed of great concern that the rate of suicide is going up the graph day by day. The aforementioned incident of alleged poisoning of the innocent girl and the stories related to her death lead us to ponder upon taking up these issue seriously. No one knows the exact circumstances so as my dear sister already said and urged an investigation and it is necessary to probe thoroughly into this matter in order to find out the exact reason behind the victim’s death.
@Zulfiqar Ahmad: What a great rather bomb opinion piece about our so-called, dishonest and corrupt leaders. Some will relate, some will be angry, others will shake their heads in disbelief or disapproval but it is a fact. Shake these dubious leaders with the stroke of your pen as usual.Bravo Zulfi, carry on the good work.
Let us be frank and talk about those who make and break the law. Mr Tariq has made a voice of his conscience which must be appreciated. Just take the examples of Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Prince Muhiuddin etc.
The maulana is very fond of being in the limelight. Being a journalist covering the proceedings of National Assembly, I still vividly remember once the then Speaker National Assembly Chaudhary Ameer Hussain telling the maulana to be mature and learn the rules of the game.
“You’ve been a member of parliament for the last four years. Mualna sb please avoid petty issues as you always make an issue out of nonthing,” he reprimanded the cleric when the latter drew attention of the chair seeking permission to speak on a point of order again and again.
The cleric had a track record of pursuing his own interests, benefiting his close segment of allies, ignoring a particular community, which he represented in the august house. He never even tried to visit the Ismaili-dominated areas especially upper Chitral.
This is the mindset of the lawmakers, who reach the dark power corridors by hook or crook. The trend of suicides among young women was rampant during his term but he did not move an eyebrow to address the gloomy issue.
He is very fond of self-projection and spent most of his time in staging sit-ins and protests in front of Peshawar Press Club over issues of no importance. This cleric-turned politician, wearing a qaraquli cap, could be seen demonstrating along with some Chitrali shopkeepers selling Chitralis caps in Qisakhawani bazaar Peshawar.
But he never took to the street on real issues like increasing trend of girls’ suicides in Chitral even by mistake. His most favorite targets are either the corrupt C&W contractors, his arch political rival Prince Mohiuddin or a tiny District Police Officer (DPO) for not giving him proper protocol.
The cleric used all available options to pressurize the incumbent DPO some months back for no reason but just to gain attention that he can at least demonstrate against him if unable to remove him.
Same is the case with Prince Muhiuddin, member National Assembly from Chitral. The poor fellow is about to complete his five-year long term but as a lawmaker he did not even bother to utter a word of sympathy for the hapless girls who fell prey to sectarian hegemony and nobody even wants to know the root cause of the problem.
This is quite shameful for those who claim to be the leaders of Chitralis. If they would have been in a civilized world, representing the people, they must have faced the wrath of the law for such ignorance about lawlessness in the area.
Law of jungle prevails in Pakistan, and people are being massacred in mega cities like Karachi, Quetta, Peshwar and what to talk of a backward hilly district with rugged mountains coupled with these crooks. May God help us in these testing times.
Zulfiqar Ahmad
Business Recorder,
Islamabad
A ma brar Zulfiqar Ahmad: maulana sabo khilafa has zaban istimal korikar prushti tan geribano di jhank kar dekhen tum jaisey logon ne Chitral ke liey kia kia hai. Kisi ke khilaf internet par afwa phelana asan hai. mujhe pata hai tum kyon maulana sab aur shahzada mohiuddin ke khilaf zeher ugalte ho. agar sahafat karni hai to in taasubaat se pak aur dur reh kar likhen apke andaz e bayan se nafrat ki boo arehi hai. Es bemari se chitral aur Chitrali logon ko ham sab ko mil kar bachana hoga.
I would like to ask the gentleman to proceed instead of becoming a self-proclaimed champion of human rights. Who stops you from filing a writ petition with the Supreme Court or Peshawar High Court (PHC) making the concerned police officials as respondents? We have no interest with the data, if you think this is a crime and going unnoticed, you must proceed instead of giving advices. Please stop these cheap publicity tactics, if you have the guts take practical steps or stay away as we have seen many more tismar khan like you who claim tall but do nothing.
Reading the reports and comments gave me an impression that proper perspective is missing. How serious is the situation no one speaks, hardly any number, people talk of killings in Karachi, violence in Quetta and Gilgit but no mention of the risk to lives of daughters in” Peaceful Chitral”.
The population of Chitral as per 1998 census is 318689. the population of Pakistan is 180 million. Let us round up Chitral’s population to 500,000
In 2012 suicide rate for entire Pakistan per wiki was:
Male 3.4 for every 100,000; Female 0.5 for every 100,000
What this means with only three female suicide in one year, Chitral will be above national average, yet for 2012 see report on Dec-28 https://www.chitraltoday.net/2012-worst-year-for-chitrali-women/15 cases of suicide of women were reported during the year. Chitral has female suicide rate five time higher than than national average, one should look for its causes and do something about it.
If suicide rate is due to remoteness of area, weather, culture, etc.,etc. then men are also living there. If we assume national average then male suicide ought to be 17 if adjusted for female rate it would be 85.
Did a quick search and Chitral Today have only one report of male suicide for one Sakhawat Khan on 25 Oct 2012 and he also committed suicide after killing the girl he wanted to marry. There may be others but certainly not 17 and no way 85.
National average male suicide is 7 male for every single female, why it is different in Chitral? If male suicide rate is only a fraction of national average then why not female?
This is not something which can be brushed under the carpet in the name of whatever we wish to call. Chitral may be peaceful but only for its sons what about daughters of Chitral? The numbers speak for themselves. These are not suicide, these are murders. Who is DPO to decide not to investigate and catch the killers in the name of sectarian harmony, does he have permission from court ?
Supreme Court is taking suo motu notice to protect the life of the people of Karachi, Quetta then why not daughters of Chitral? Are they lesser humans, are they not citizens of Pakistan, why they are not entitled to protection guaranteed by the Constitution? How many more deaths before Peshawar High Court take suo motu notice and protect daughters of Chitral against colluding/corrupt/coward police officers of Chitral. If Karachi is a dangerous place forcing Supreme Court to take notice then Chitral is many times more dangerous place for women.
The case should be properly investigated. It is a matter of a precious life, and we cannot just assume that a happily married girl took her life. She was taken to a hospital in an unconscious state and was unable to verbalize whether she took the poison on her own or was given by someone else. We don’t yet have the evidence or witness to prove that the innocent girl committed suicide. Whether it was a suicide or homicide, needs to be proved and it was and is the sole responsibility of the police to make it known.
Even If we accept her suicide then many other questions arise. What were the circumstances so harsh which forced the poor girl to resort to this extreme action of taking her own blossoming life? Who are the instigators of such circumstances? Why was she not taken to the hospital at the initial stage? Why her dead body was not collected by any closed family member (muhrim)? Who were the persons ‘authorized’ to order burial of the dead body without postmortem? Why our police is making lame excuses of sectarian conflict upon inquiry? These are, but a few questions to be addressed by our local police. Otherwise, we will be left with no other option but to assume that either the police has been heavily bribed or is working under the pressure of the extremist clerics of the area.
The poor soul needs justice and every human being belonging to any religion or sect should come forward to seek justice for her because it is not a sectarian issue but an issue of human life and human right.