Monday, June 2, 2014

I KILLED MY DAUGHTER AND I HAVE NO REGRET OVER IT


In the past few weeks, the local press carried some heart wrenching stories, ranging from a woman who dumped her newly born baby in a toilet during a church service, policemen taking a client’s car for a night time drinking spree and crushing it after a client left it in their custody for safe keeping and a ten year old girl who became pregnant but does not know who is responsible for her pregnancy.

But the story that shocked me the most came from the international media and it was that of a Pakistan woman who was stoned to death by her family in front of a court. Almost 20 members of the woman’s family, including her father and brothers attacked her and her husband with batons and bricks.

What was shocking was that all this took place in broad daylight before a crowd of onlookers and right in front of the high court which to many is a symbol of justice. The only consolation to this sad story was that the father was arrested and hopefully all those who were involved.

The only crime this woman committed was to marry someone she loved.  The couple went to court to register their marriage but the woman’s relatives were waiting outside. As the new couple walked up to the main gate the family members fired shots in the air and tried to snatch her from her husband. When she resisted, they started beating her with bricks from a nearby construction site.

Her father then surrendered himself. “I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it”, he said.

This was not the first time a woman has been killed in such a gruesome manner. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan released a report indicating that 869 women were killed in similar “honour killings” in 2013.

If there is any cruel death that one can think of, stoning, or lapidation, is one of them. It is a slow and painful death. According to Wikipedia, stoning still remains a legal form of judicial punishment in Iraq, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Northern Nigeria, Aceh in Indonesia and Pakistan where this recent case took place.

In 2012, a couple who had sex outside marriage were stoned to death by Islamists in the town of Aguelhok in northern Mali. They were buried up to their necks, then pelted with stones until they died.

Stoning has been condemned by several human rights organizations such as Amnesty international and the Human Rights Watch. I know that very few people would support that type of justice. I have seen thieves beaten with all types of weapons including stoning but I cannot comprehend why someone can kill their own relative in such a way.

What was more appalling about the Pakistan woman is that she was pregnant at the time she was being killed. This means that two lives were lost in the name of restoring honour.

I am a person that likes watching movies and these include horror and other violent movies but I don't think I can stand and watch people stoning other people to death. I have seen videos on You-Tube of people being executed by stoning but I do not have the guts to click on the play button to watch.

This brings me back to the local stories I have mentioned at the top. I keep wondering what would have happened to the 10 year old girl of Ndola who has been made pregnant if she belonged to that Pakistan family. I am sure the parents of this little girl have been shocked and totally embarrassed by the whole incident but they cannot possibly take her outside the house and stone her to death.

The same applies with the woman who dumped her newly born baby. The people at the church who rescued the little one were obviously annoyed with the mother. Would stoning her to death be the ultimate punishment? Who would pick the first stone?   

Image courtesy of  Simon Howden, freedigitalphotos.net





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