Being ghairatmand is a sign of being human, for many. Unfortunately, this ghairat often trumps the very humanity that it is supposed to safeguard. More often than not, this ghairat is a tool of intense violence against women, who are already supposed to be the weaker gender.
Such Ghairat, Much Wow.
So what exactly is ghairat?
“Who dropped your daughter off to home last night? Kia humaray khandaan ki larkiyaan ab itni beghairat hogai hain?” is an oft repeated mantra as an example of ghairat. The dictionary will not necessarily give you an exact translation for it but generally it is assumed that ghairat is translated into English as ‘honor’ (yeah, the same kind which leads to those infamous killings).
But is the value of a woman, to our society, only that of her commodification in terms of honor or izat that she brings to your home
Recently, a video of a ghairatmand brother’s demonstration of his honorable manhood is going viral all over the world
It showed a 16 year old dying girl, laid on the stairs leading to her house. For obvious reasons we won’t be showing the video on here. The really story behind this was quite heart-wrenching. The teenage girl was stabbed to death by her elder brother because he saw her talking to some guy at their doorstep.
The act of this ghairatmand Pakistani mard is less shameful for Pakistan than Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy highlighting problems that need to be addressed.
Wonder if this is the younger generation you are looking to raise? Killing their sisters because of the honor that has been taken away from you because if laug saw your sister talking to that guy the sole purpose of their existence will be to talk about your sister’s indiscretions?
Considering our society, people making it the sole purpose of their lives is unfortunately not a far-fetched idea. And that is exactly what is scary about the future of Pakistan.
You shouldn’t need long lectures on feminism, those grant-driven seminars or totally ridiculous talk shows to highlight this issue.
Treating women as equals i.e. letting them be the judge of what consequences their actions will bring with regards to the family’s ghairat. If you don’t trust them with that much, it really only means you don’t trust your own teachings and the values that you inculcate in them as children. Are you values so fickle that your daughter will throw them away just because of a guy in the street?
The father of the girl in the aforementioned video has already forgiven his son because, well, he was such a man.
Without consequences killing someone in the land of pure is almost like a game. It amazes one how the so-called believers can play with lives of people. In the balancing of how one is seen in the eyes of others or how your amaal actually pan out to the One who will decide your eternal fate, it seems the people are being given more of an importance than what really matters.
And this is exactly why ghairatmandi of Pakistan is actually making it beghairat. What about you?
