Javed Chaudhry’s misogynistic excuse for violence against women
Even in his attempted condemnation, the language he uses to describe her injuries is detailed, graphic, and inappropriate. PHOTO: AFP
In a column published on April 1 in the Urdu newspaper Daily Express, Javed Chaudhry expresses his disapproval for a man who had paid another Rs100,000 to attack his estranged wife by throwing acid on her face. Even in his attempted condemnation, the language he uses to describe her injuries is detailed, graphic and inappropriate.
“Hadiyan nangi ho gain. Aankh ubal kar bahir aa gai”
(Bones were bare. The eye was singed and protruding)
But then, these descriptions become downright pornographic as his ultimate thesis becomes apparent; perhaps, women incite violence because of their own insubordination, give or take a few innocent victims. The narrative focuses on the perpetrator and makes a case for him; the victim is invisible, except for the vivid description of her wounds.
The perpetrator explains how he was provoked to have acid thrown at his wife because she betrayed him. She left him for his nephew, a younger, more attractive, and successful man; she gained possession of their home, had him evicted, began living with her new lover, planned to marry him, subjected him to family and community contempt. Enraged and emasculated, he lost his self control, and had her disfigured for life.
The narrative is brimming with misogyny.
Blame the victim.
Absolve the perpetrator.
In the end, the man is given space to chastise all women and lecture them that they must remain chaste and obedient, or else risk heinous revenge.
The author asks him why he did not kill her.
“Intiqaam lena tha to seedha sadha qatal kar detay”
(If you wanted revenge, you could have just killed her)
He replies, that he could not give her the satisfaction of a peaceful death.
Sadistically, he rejoices in the fact that she lost her lover, her home, and is now dependent on charity for medical care. I don’t know what is more chilling – the perpetrator’s lack of any remorse whatsoever, or the author posing this question in which he seems to condone honour killing and regard it as the more compassionate thing to do.
Although Chaudhry leaves the readers with the question – do victims of violence deserve being burnt because of their own provocative conduct, his unethical and bigoted focus on the perpetrator’s story without a single refutation from the victim, amounts to complicity in violence against women.
If this were a court of law, his lawyer would fail in making a “grave and sudden provocation” defence as his was cool, contemplated revenge. He hired an accomplice, paid him, and even planned his exodus from the country. His story would not serve even as a mitigating factor for a lighter sentence given the grievous nature of the injury suffered by the woman.
But here, in this bizarre piece of writing, Chaudhry seems to be unabashedly generating support for him and his crime, building consensus for violence against women and the male right to exert physical power over women who “stray”.
We live in a patriarchal society where incidents of domestic violence are commonplace. However, to indirectly suggest that victims somehow deserve to have their faces destroyed, in a most painful and brutalizing way, is outright irresponsible, criminal, and derogatory to the decades of struggle by the women in Pakistan.
Some conclusions are plausible, if we were to supplement her side of the story. She filed for khula (judicial divorce) which is her legal right under Muslim law. Khula law is not always favourable to women, who must return all property gifted to them by their husbands, if asked to.
Thus, if she retained the house, maybe it was never his to begin with.
He states that she made multiple accusations against him in a court of law. In a justice system that places more weight on a man’s testimony and regards female infidelity as a serious moral breach, the judge must have found her to be credible and granted khula – despite his possibly damning testimony.
If he could disfigure her irremediably, perhaps he had a history of abusing her. Perhaps, his nephew had been a source of support for her to finally pick up and leave him.
And even if she did simply fall in love with the nephew, do men not leave their wives for other women all the time?
Should there be a systematic campaign of directed violence, including acid throwing, at the faces of such men? Or is abuse a male privilege?
Are columnists supposed to promote vigilante justice against women – and provide a platform to violent criminals, rather than seeking their punishment or mental health treatment? His statement is likely to induce men to seek revenge against women. Technically, under the law he could be punished and, at the very least, face public opprobrium.
Read more by Abira here or follow her on Twitter @oil_is_opium.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of The Express Tribune.
Javed Chaudhry has portrayed Bilal Khar as a self made middle class men to gather sympathies.Recommend
After all he has proven why women are still subject to abuse/injustice/torture & murder even when they are the victims!!Recommend
If some women deserve to have their faces melted because of their unacceptable behaviour, some columnists deserve to be whacked with cricket-bats for unethical and misogynistic columns.
Or maybe we can all try to act civilized and just call a crime, a crime.Recommend
Javed Chaudhry is a story maker anyway. Should have read his column on Sialkot killing. Horribly gore graphics. That was the last time I read any of his articles and now I had to read this one .Recommend
girl you are cent percent right…Recommend
Very well written! The column was outrageous.Recommend
pathetic! people who throw acid to disfigure other people’s body should be publicly hanged or drowned in acid drums.Recommend
That was a good read , I completely agreeRecommend
If, by chance, Pakistani nation comes to its collective senses, that column would go down as one of the most misogynistic and inhumane piece to ever be printed in a national daily. As disgusting as the column and Chaudhry sahib’s views are, its does give you an insight into the prevalent chauvinism and tribal notions of honor under which women are regarded as property.Recommend
So ET’s Urdu sister publication peddles right wing agenda and ET is left so both left and right can stay engaged.Recommend
I think the lady is just using the name of Javed Ch. for popularity.Recommend
I agreed with the author, she rightly defended her case!Recommend
well we as a nation have championed ourselves in taking out negativity out of any positive thing that exists…i dont know what provoked writer of ET to come up with such a biased and one sided analysis.. i must say you probably have a very weak command on your national language..
go re-read the column of chaudhry again in which he had categorically stated that he wanted to choke the neck of that perpetrator but couldn’t do so, besides other narration of how he felt disgusted about that man, even commenting him VEHSHI…
He wouldn’t have won the best Columnist award and that too twice if he was a story teller..
We as a nation don’t learn to appreciate the issues being highlighted…Recommend
Miss Abira,
I can neither deny the fact that Mr. Javed Chaudhry mentioned neither I disagree to punish the person who throw acid on someone’s face.
But from your writting it seems it is legal to choose anyone anytime for his/her spouse if one has good health n wealth. Just think if everybody have loose character to leave his/her spouse because of someone’s health/wealth than society will die.Recommend
if at the victim was to be blamed the accused did prove himself to be a low life, justifying the act of the victim, why she left him in the first place… and still he would call himself a MAN… manhood is not something with which you are born, but something which is earned…Recommend
Just so we’re clear, fidelity or lack thereof is, was and never will be sufficient reason to do such a thing to anybody. Ever.Recommend
i totally disagree to this ,, because javed ch. have tried to tell the woman , socities that this (fakeness , unfair) should not happen from women side as well ! try to understand dnt try to populate ur self by maiking criticizm ! do some thing good MAM!!!Recommend
@Umar: U have highlighted a very significant point. These media groups have different products (newspapers) for different segments of society. ET and Daily Express are both sisters selling varied products to their particular readers.Recommend
Excellent article, Abira, and very poignantly argued.Recommend
ahan…..so she was a cheat …. !! deserved to be whacked and insulted , but since i m a reasonable man….i’d say that throwing acid is a serious crime and it cant be justified under any circumstances !Recommend
Under capitalism women are a prey to dual oppression. Women can only be free socially if they are free economically.Recommend
Very well written Abira!Recommend
Why is Acid so easily available in pakistan to be in reach of these barbaric people nay beasts?.
whether woman was right or wrong ,loyal or not ,pious or not,of good character or bad, No one has the right to settle the issue with acid except most primitive or savage of beasts.Recommend
Mr Chaudry’s really allows us to peep into his mind with this article.
Laying the blame squarely on victims for giving men a reason to attack them. How can a REAL man accept that someone has rejected his proposal? The girl should have known better than to behave in such a dishonourable way. What amazing analysis by a “leading” journalist. Bravo! Mr Chaudry, Bravo!Recommend
Javed Ch. nothing more than is a story teller. Whenever he travels to western countries, he writes about their achievments and compares their societies with ours, but he himself is still ignorant. Thanks for exposing him.Recommend
I am appalled by both sides….I guess it has become national pastime to conduct public trials! Let the courts do their job, I am sure most of us don’t understand the intricacies of penal code!Recommend
Javed Chaudhry bent over backwards in this article to convey the horror and revulsion he felt against this man. The only person that escapes scrutiny and analysis is the adulterous, married woman who took her husband’s nephew as a boy-toy and then kicked him out of the house, that he… in his naivety (in hindsight), as most husbands do, had bequeathed to her.
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Even if you dismiss the acid-attack, at the very least, according to Islamic Sharia law, she is a criminal of high order and should have been stoned to death for her adulterous affair. In Islam, the most favorable qualities that are desirable in a wife, are chastity & loyalty.
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The article side-steps this crucial aspect that binds an Islamic society. I condemn it for being misdirected and too politically correct. Tell the whole truth, J.C.Recommend
Appalling. What a pathetic excuse for a journalist, Chaudry is.Recommend
I hate the part of JC column when the perpetrator asks him’…..who is more guilty among those two? and JC keep quite in the answer!Recommend
face it we still take females to be an article of ownership, a bed ,a chicken a wife…Recommend
Javed Ch .His attitude toward the women is to be condemned .Recommend
Let them write and do whatever they want with women of Pakistan. These people will never succeed in life and hereafter. Given these tough circumstances Pakistani women are still doing great. Salute to their achievement and successes. Every woman is a story in Pakistan. I think it’s about time that we should praise them and give them equal rights and opportunities which is their right. After all an educated woman makes educated people and educated societies.Recommend
To Adnan Khan
It is people like you that help taint views of Pakistan worldwide.
This 2012. Have you heard of human rights?
Actually disgusted at how backward views on woman are in pakistan.
No one deserves to be attacked like that.Recommend
For those naive awam still wonder why ‘Saving Face’ was made…. here’s your answer.Recommend
@Imran Kamyana
and women can only be free economically if they are working in a bomb making factory under a totalitarian regime in a communist country…right?Recommend
All the people criticizing Javed Sahab over here completely misunderstood him !
No one in his sane mind would condone such brutal acts.Recommend
Sad that these things happen. We can all agree that if EVERYONE followed Islam, these things would not happen. First people don’t follow Allah’s clear instructions using all kinds of excuses, then they complain of the horrible outcomes.Recommend
I have read both the articles, Javed Ch’s ( published on first April) and Abira’s as well, The portrayal of burnt body and other related images are no doubt grotesque but on the other hand we need to learn to be patient and take an insight of the things, it is said that pain can be felt only by one’s body and no one else, I’m not at all in the favour of this ‘acid-revenge game‘ but we have to think about it calmly and patiently for a moment that what is the cause, and what leads people to show such a fanatic attitude ( as that man showed ) towards their love ones ( his wife ). To criticize or appreciate writers can give birth to an endless and fruitless discussion and nothing more than that.Recommend
Thank you for writing this. Thank you.Recommend
After reading JC article I think his story was indeed lopsided why didnt. The man through acid at his nephew why only that poor. Woman . Such evil characters who
Destroy other peoples lives. Should. Be. Publicly. Hanged. So. No. One. Ever. Dare to do such a thing againRecommend
I would like to pose one question to JC just imagine yourself to be in the victims shoes how horrible would you feel living a life of immense misery and why only women suffer in r countryRecommend
Imran Kamyana:
Have fun explaining that concept to billionaire business women like Sarah Blakely, Wu Yajun, Indra Nooyi as well as countless other women like who owe their success to capitalism.
We understand that you don’t like capitalism, but can we please stop mindlessly dragging it into every discussion from misogynism to burnt toast? No, neither socialism nor capitalism would do anything for women’s emancipation until the cultural and religious obstacles are dealt with.Recommend
You seldom write but when you do its worth the read.
Hope Javed Chaudhry has what it takes to defend his position, lets wait and see.Recommend
Javed Choudhry belongs to a class of ignorant, religiously bigoted, feudal mentality writer who happen to be famous among morally bankrupt educated and semi educated masses which got no sense of good and bad and whose morals are formed by jihadi propaganda narrative fed by military establishment.
He often reaches a conclusion in his columns which are obviously hypocritical, blaming the victim and justifying violence along the lines of narrow-mindedness and medieval religious mentality. His thinking is evident in all most all his columns and most prominently his columns on blasphemy, Salman Taseer murder and this one on women acid attack are best representation of his bigoted mentality.Recommend
Javed Chaudhry reflects the mindset of cheap novel reading semi literate people.
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That is why I protested the most when some of his columns were translated into English on this website.
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Sorry to say but he does represent semi-literate people who adore his columns!Recommend
I find his (Javed Ch.) stories very boring. I don’t know how is he keeping two jobs.Recommend
Well done. What our nation needs to understand is that the minute you give a reason as to why someone committed a crime, s/he is justifying the act. I think, the news paper needs to take action against the recent misogynist article by Mr Chaudhry. No matter how much the columnist OWNS his opinion, the point is s/he is the face of that paper and reflects the ideology of it too.Recommend
@Mj:
I don’t agree with you. This column is not regarding honour killing neither it tells if a woman should be considered as a man’s property. This column is about REVENGE which is in human nature. To provoke someone to take revenge is equally wrong.
The writer just wants to say here that women should be sensible to avoid such acts which could provoke men to take revenge from them. Not only this is true for women but to everyone in other situations as well.
Throwing acid on a woman’s face can’t be justified and such criminals should be hanged publicly.Recommend
pakistan seems to be the world’s largest consumer of acid.Recommend
If any of his own family women went through this ordeal, Mr Javed Chaudhry would be singing a different tune.Recommend
Instead to criticize at JC would it not better to give solution to that bad luck husband who get ruined by her wife other than to throw acid ?Recommend
Very Well written article, i hope he can read this somehow or somebody should tag him or tweet him with this article on FB and Twitter respectivle ….Recommend
@Adnan Khan:
Since the woman left him, applied for Khula and wanted to marry another man, which part of this fails to comply with Shariah law?
You are recommending she be stoned to death, based on your own twisted mind. If she was guilty of something, he could have filed a case and let the court decide if she had committed a crime.
The problem is that still people believe in being the law and the court, this mindset is leading to criminal behaviour.Recommend
Mr Javaed showed injustice in his column. I smelled it when i read it from newpaper. I awalys found columns of Javaed boring but i dnt know i wait of his column.Recommend
Javed Chaudary should have been a fiction writer .journalism is a wrong profession for himRecommend
What else can be expected from these so called journalists.
They present lies as if it’s the truth & they impose their own thinking on their audience. A few cases in viewpoint:
Lal Masjid
Lawyers Movement
Sympathy to the Talibans
Anti – Army Propaganda
Bugti Case
Sadly, majority of Pakistani’s either read them or watch them on our so called independent media (who’s owners have their own agenda & ideas).
All Hail Dependent Media!!!!!!!Recommend
@kaalchakra: On your comment that if Islam is followed this would not happen………sounds so hollow and naive.Recommend
@Faraz Talat:
Maybe you missed the essence of Javed Chaudhry’s article. He is by no means advocating that women’s face should be melt down by acid. Can you quote a single sentence where he has said so?
He is just trying to say that women should be wise enough not to provoke ANGER and REVENGE in a man.
As REVENGE is a human nature and you cannot deny this fact.
This is not just true for women but also for men to act wisely in different situations of life and to be careful not to provoke someone to attack you because more than 95% of crimes are an outcome of jealousy and revenge.
This woman betrayed her husband by having illegitimate affair with his nephew and kicked her husband out of his house which caused jealousy and revenge in him. Whereas his action of throwing acid on her face was an extremly criminal act.
The writer here wants to say that women should also control their acts.
By saying that the husband should have killed his wife rather than throwing acid on her face he means to say that killing is a less painful punishment as compared to burning someone’s face with acid. Why he chose to throw acid on his wife’s face and not killed her? Because the betrayed husband wanted his wife to suffer the same way as he had suffered.These are the words of the husband not Javed Chaudhry’s words if you could read the article again carefully.
The writer has not by any means advocated the criminal act of the jealous and revengful husband.Recommend
Writer has done justice with the issue.Recommend
mahreen this is exactly what I wanted to say that we should look and analyse what is the cause behind a crime and then what will be the consequence of the crime and also what sort of circumstances trigger that crime , by giving importance to what should be the tone of writer and in what way he should write or not, we people are actually neglecting the real problem that is related to our own behaviours.Recommend
Mahreen,
That’s what the article shamelessly implies. The misogynistic subtext is loud and clear.
He listens quietly to the acid attacker’s “heartbreaking” story about an immoral wife. He doesn’t counter-question him about the authenticity of the story. He doesn’t argue with him that immoral behaviour, if the story is in fact true, does not warrant criminal behaviour.
He allows the criminal to publicly demonize his victim, as if she hadn’t suffered already, and send out a direct, unopposed message to the world that some women are just asking for an acid attack.
He simply listens to his story, tips his hat and bids farewell like it all made perfect sense to him. How you are not outraged by the tone of this article is beyond me.Recommend
@Faraz Talat:
I believe it was not his purpose to give an unopposed message to the world that some women are just asking for an acid attack. His article can also be seen from another point of view (if u want to). It’s refers to the criminal mentality of some men who are revengeful.
A criminal mind cannot be changed if it tends to do a crime. Only a person who is supposed to be a victim should act and think sensibly.
I have read the acid burn cases of different women. Most of the women met their unfortunate destiny because they cheated or betrayed their lovers/ husbands. They were wives or ex-beloveds of the those criminals. Jealousy plays a major role in such crimes.
Here the writer is not suggesting that women are asking for acid to be thrown on their faces. He is trying to say that women should realize their acts on their part.
Since men are more revengeful in nature as compared to women. If a man cheats on his wife a woman can’t act the way a man does. A woman can never throw acid on his face.
The whole point of his article is to tell women to act and behave sensibly. Don’t provoke a criminal mind to destroy your life.
I can’t find a single line where he is suggesting that women invite men to throw acid on them.
Please go through his article again and read it carefully.Recommend
(In my previous comment, I was of course referring to JC’s article, not Abira’s)Recommend
One does not have to have a “certificate of Good character” before she is considered worthy of “not being thrown the acid at.”
why does a woman have to prove herself of flawless character ,why does she have to “earn” her basic human rights.
Not being killed ,raped ,humiliated or thrown acid at are basic human rights, whether she was good or not .Of course I am excluding “eye for an eye” situations.Recommend
@Mian M Imran: Before protecting such a bias person read that article yourself. I myself dont even watch his programs when I found him guilty not being impartial.Recommend
@elementary:
Even if a woman is of good character, is there a gurantee that she won’t be worthy of throwing acid at her or she will be excused. Are all the women who are being raped, killed or tortured are of bad character?
I don’t think so that a woman has to earn a certificate of a flawless character to be excused from being tortured or to earn her basic human rights.
Anyone can be a victim of criminal mentality not only bad characters.
Throwing acid on a woman’s face is not only a crime against a woman but it’s a crime against humanity. It’s a crime against Islam and society.
Millions of women throughout the world live in conditions of abject deprivation of,and attacks against, their funadamental human rights for no other reason than that they are women.
We live in a world in which women do not have the basic control over what happens to their lives. Millions of women and girls are forced to marry or have sex with men they do not desire. Women are unable to depend on the government to protect them from physical voilence at home.
In a country like Pakistan men like the jealous acid thrower husband gets no serious punishments or penalties even after doing such serious crimes. It means that Pakistani society is encouraging such mentally sick people to do more similar crimes.
For such men like the “jealous acid thrower husband” i would like to say that dangerously deformed cultural beliefs combined with poor parenting have not only shattered their own lives but also caused sufferings to a number of women who have been the victims to their jealousy.
Such men not only bring bad name to their culture but also to their country and religion.Recommend
Good job by the writer.Recommend
As an outsider “looking in,” this is what I notice. . .
Don’t be born non-muslim because you won’t get justice
Don’t have a differing opinion about religion against a person who belongs to the religion of the majority because you’ll get accused of some non-sense blasphemy
Last but not least and the most scary of them all: Don’t be born a woman in Pakistan!
At this rate, Pakistan heading towards the likes of Nigeria, a near failed state because religion is put on a pedestal and valuing women like property. I only shake my head in disbelief.
Pakistan has so much potential, to set an example, and this is what is allowed to happen. I’m bewildered.Recommend
Give him a break girls………he just mentioned the other side of the picture and that’s all. He never said that all the victims of “acid throwing” are like the woman portrayed in his article nor approved her husband’s criminal act then why all this hullabaloo going on?Recommend
@Mahreen:
I can’t believe as a WOMAN (assuming you are one) you can find ANY sense in what this fool is spewing. There are so many things wrong with what you’ve written that it would take me forever to point them all out so I simply won’t. However, I will comment on one thing; your statement that men are more vengeful than women simply has no foundation. And to imply women CAN’T throw acid at men who cheat…??? I’m not sure I understood what you mean by that so I won’t comment, but I will say this: IMHO, unfortunately you’re an example of the self-loathing qualities too many women in Pakistan have and that’s something I can NEVER understand. This self-loathing, low self-worth, acceptance of men’s disgusting and atrocious behavior is a major factor contributing to why men treat women the way they do in Pakistan: because they know far too many women will tolerate it, or find pathetic and appalling justifications for it. “It’s just a man’s nature.” “That’s just how men are.” “I should make all the adjustments and sacrifices so I don’t get beaten or raped or have acid thrown at me.” …..Recommend
I would have more loved if the author had write the similar story when the Express tribune had previously published the story of throwing of acid by girl on boy as sweet revenge.
By the way, mostly i agree with the author.Recommend
@Diddly poo:
I don’t know if you are a man or a woman but you totally failed to understand the message of the writer and whatever i have written too.I don’t know if you don’t have the ability to look at things differently or you don’t want to. You failed to ponder over and understand the deeper meanings the writer wanted to convey.
I will suggest you to go through Javed Chaudhry’s article again and read it carefully and try to figure out what he means to say. Just don’t read his article in it’s literal meanings.
He is not spewing hatred towards women, neither he is representing the male dominant mentality of Pakistani society nor he is down grading women.
Here the writer is not talking about the RELATIONSHIPS but about CRIMES and how one can escape from the wrath of these crimes.
As far as your obejection regarding my statement that men are more vengeful than women is concerned, i would like you to pick up a daily newspaper and try to figure out that how many crimes are done by men in a single day as compared to women all around the world? Do women rape more men than men do? I have never heard of a woman raping a man other than in exceptional circumstances. Do women commit more murders as compared to men? Are women more involved in sexual abuse of the children as compared to men? Are women more involved in drugs and weapons dealings around the world? Are there more women robbers, paid killers, smugglers, pedophiles, abductors of women and children sometimes paid somestimes out of revenge as compared to men? Yet you say that how can men be more vengeful or heinous than women? How ridiculous.
Have you ever read in the newspaper that how badly women are treated by men in all the third world countries and speciallly in Pakistan. How in Punjab girls are forced to marry Holy Quran just for the sake of property and to keep the property within the family. How in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa young girls who are as young as 12 or 13 years old are sold in the name of marriage to lusty old men. How in Sindh girls/women are targetted to honour killings in the name of Karo Kari. These are only a few examples. Yet you say that my statement that men are more vengeful has no foundation? How ridiculous.
Have you ever felt that how our society is suffering from the vengeful behaviour of these narrow minded and illiterate men? Why a newly wedded bride dies in a house fire when a stove suddenly bursts and why never any other family member dies in her in laws?
How will you justify when a lusty bad character man does four marriages making religion his sheild and justifying his acts because Islam has allowed him to marry one woman after the other. This is his right. He is even fine in adulterous relationships but if a woman does so then she is lablled bad character and worthy of throwing acid on her face.Is this the plight she has to suffer?
What punishment religion, society sets for such men? Yet you call that my statements have no foundation?
WHY A MAN IS MORE POWERFUL IN RELIGION AND IN CULTURE? Do u have an answer to my question?
For your kind information i am not self loating or having low self worth acceptance of men’s disgusting and atrocious behaviour. Neither my purpose of writing all this is to tell women to be subordinates of men.
Why a man is allowed to have four wives in religion and a woman is not allowed? Is this not injustice in your point of view? Why a child get’s the sirname of his father and not his mother? Is it not injustice? Why in property a girl gets less than half a share as compared to a boy? Why a woman’s witness is considered half as compared to a man’s witness in religion? I hope you won’t mind these differences because these are set by religion and not by me.Recommend
Islamic law is same for every centuries ! even in 2050 we have to follow all the basic rules of Islam! I am not defending this man`s behavior but woman in this story is more to blame !Recommend
@Diddly poo:
Also in jannat a man will get 72 wives and wine whereas a woman don’t. Do u still think men and women are equal?Recommend
@For Azka:
I don’t agree with you Azka. Under no circumstances a man is supposed to empower, mistreart or torture a woman.
Such men who mistreat women are those abusers who see women as objects.They don’t consider woman as an equal human being.
A man who is an abuser usually has low self-esteem. He feels powerless and inaffective although he may appear to be successful but he has certain fears in his heart.
An abuser will always find external excuses for his behaviour to justify himself. He will always blame the cause of his violence on the woman. Such men always have extreme jealousy, sense of possessiveness in them.
No matter how provocative behaviour the above mentioned women had but her husband was not supposed to throw acid on her face. This is a criminal act which cannot be excused.
On the other hand women should try to understand the narrow minded and revengeful thinking of such men.Recommend
@Mahreen
You have missed something here.The reward for the women is being one of the 72 lucky ones choosen for the MAN.Recommend
@Mahreen: Sorry I am pretty dumb, were you agreeing or disageeing with me?Recommend
@Mahreen: It is quite disgusting when you defend a person who visibly bias in his article. Yes I have answer for your questions, Why man is allowed to marry four time, You are quite good to find sense in the bias article but could not sense what quran says, polygamy is conditionally permissible, the condition being just and equal treatment,Sura-4 Nisa verse 3: marry woman of your choice, two or three, or four; and if you fear that you will not be ale to deal justly ( with them) then marry only one. Woman is not allowed because she bears children, if she would have been allowed then there would be confusion of parentage, this is reason why child gets the name and surname of father. to distinguish the parentage of a child.
About property because son is made responsible for looking after his parents and unmarried brothers and sisters, that is the reason boy gets more than girls share.
Your question about witness, plz don’t mind, look at yourself being a women, you are more influenced with the revengeful nature of men and less sympathetic towards a woman, whose face mutilated with acid burns, because husband accused her of being cheat, you are so obsessed with the story of husband, that you ignored the girls’ version. Mostly women compromise with circumstances and bow to the pressure of male family members and brought up with certain dogmatic values of self loathing, low self worth, tolerant to atrocious behavior of man,being educated still follow the old dogmatic values to find fault with woman not man. God is all knowing.
Javed chodhri asked for her peaceful death “Intiqaam lena tha to seedha sadha qatal kar detay” instigating a person for honour killing. Still you want us to understand deeper meaning of his article. How would you justify his comments??Recommend
A social discord, a difference of opinion, exercising ur rights, and matters of the heart, should never give rise to physical violence in terms of revenge at least not in an educated and balanced and healthy mind ! Revenge is only justifiable in terms of n eye for an eye ! If the woman had not hurt him physically and had just exercised her right to khula and re-marry She had done nothing that should even remotely provoke physical violence against herself !
It was the problem with that crimnal minded person all along who is now trying to justify his acts and an Urdu medium Journalist without even paying any heed to the woman’s story without even critically analysing that man’s contradiction riddled account is favouring him !
That is down right Wrong and condemnable !
the reason for pointing his being Urdu medium is the fact that Urdu reaches out to far more ppl around here then english. I wish someone calls him on a much watched talk show and bash him publicly !
a man who was on street after his wife’s so called betrayal had the means to hire criminals paying 6 figure sum and travel abroad !
Also he did not even consider hurting the nephew Just the Woman !Recommend
Javed Chaudry should be banned from writing any further articles in any newspaper.
Directly or indirectly he has tried to justify Acid throwing, for which he should be tried.
He should also be banned on TV as he is a threat to common people because of his thoughts & the particular story.
If Maya Khan was bad, Javed Chaudry is Worse than that.
I hope Express group will take necessary action.Recommend
@elementary:
I was agreeing with you. But to prove her worth and to escape the acid attacks, she doesn’t need a “good character ceritificate”. Sometimes good character women also get their face burnt. Her biggest crime is only that she is a woman.Recommend
@elementary:
I don’t want to write anything else regarding this issue because if i will write then i am afraid that people will attack me like a pack of wolves.
One of the gentlemen or a gentle women above didn’t like whatever i had written.and misinterpretted my message.thinking i am one of those women who is self-loathing or who has low self worth or acceptance of men’s disgusting and atrocious behaviour and that’s why men in Pakistan treat women in such a humiliating way because they desrved to be treated like that because of their own acceptance of men’s disgusting behaviour.
He/She also misunderstood what i meant to say that men are more revengeful than women. I know women are also equally revengeful but i was not talking abut any particular case.
REVENGE is a part of human nature and you cannot deny it.
Have u ever heard of a woman throwing acid on a man’s face? So why there is more revenge in men as compared to women?
The answer is because of the society. The importance and place given to men in the society and how society interprets the role of a man as compared to a woman. Why society thinks that certain things are ok for men and not ok for women?Recommend
@Seema Shaikh:
Miss Seema Shaikh you missed what i wanted to say. I just wanted to say that those men who make religion as their sheild to marry one woman after another take advantage of religion. I am not talking about religion itself here. Such men have an excuse to marry more than one woman at a time because religion has allowed them. Whereas religion allows them to marry more than one women in certain circumstances. Do all men follow the conditional polygamy?
You said that woman is not allowed to marry more than one man at a time because of the parentage as parentage is determined by the father of the child. I would like to tell you that this is a totally false concept. There was a time in history when women used to have several husbands at a time and child’s parentage was determined by the mother of the child. That was called “maadri nizaam” or polyandry. Nobody ever objected on the practice of polyandry for centuries then due to some social or political reasons or male dominance later on it was replaced by “pidri nizaam” or polygamy where a child started receiving his father’s name.
Maybe you don’t know that the pharoahs of Egypt were recognized by their mother’s name and i think they were very highly civilized in their times.
More over it is scientifically proven that a child bears half genes of his father and half genes of his mother in equal propotion. So a child is not competely an off-spring of a man that he should get the parentage just of his father.
As far as a son is concerned that he is more responsible for looking after his parents and unmarried brothers and sisters, so he should get more share in the property, i would like to ask you that how many sons really look after their parents and unmarried brothers and sisters in these times? Once they themselves get married, do they really care for their parents?
What about daughters? Don’t they look after their parents?Why they are not eligible to get equal share in the property? They are not eligible for equal share of property because they have to be married off to someone and ultimately have to leave the parent’s house.
But what about that girl who marries their son and becomes eligible of their full property? She might not be a good daughter in law to care for them but the real daughters do care for their parents still they are not eligible.
As far as a woman’s witness is concerned is it only women who get pressurized by their male family members not to give the true statement? Are males memebers not get pressurized?
Here i am talking about equal opportunities, i am not talking about if women self loath themselves or bow down to accept a male’s disgusting or atrocious behaviour.
If women bow down to men because of their self loathing behaviour or accept male dominance to be considered half witness then why don’t you accept that acid thrower also mutilated the woman’s face out of pressure which got on his mind because of his wife’s betrayal? So u do value that women self loath and accept men’s disgusting behaviour but you do not agree that a man also be pressurized in a different way.
I am sorry to say that at on one side you take side of a woman who was a victim of acid thrower and at the other side you are giving justifications for men’s multiple marriages because it is accepted in the society because religion permits it. Do we really follow our religion in it’s true sense?
By the statement “agar intiqaam lena tha tu seedha seedha qatal kar detay”, is he giving him an option to have adopted another way of killing her? It all depends on your thinking that how do you take a statement and i am sorry to say that more people take the satement very very negatively.Recommend
@Adnan Khan:
The husband’s accounts if it is to be believed accused her of being friendly ! he got jealous fought with her and evicted the nephew
Not even the husband blamed her of Adultry how c0me you established that !
She evicted the husband out of “Her” property and filed for “Khula”
after Khula she had the right to marry whoever she pleases !
That was the point of calculated planned and henious acid attack !Recommend
It’s a tragedy that such acid throwers get no punishment by law in Pakistan. A country like Bangladesh were acid attacks were on high rate, now has a new law according to which a death penalty will be given to to the person who will be found involved in an acid attack.I wonder why in Pakistan there is no such law?
Whoever throws acid on a woman should be hanged by neck so that in future nobody should dare to throw acid on any woman.Recommend
@Mahreen:
Your statements about everything are so absurdly hollow and elementary so I honestly see no point in validating any of them. On a side note, your comment about the afterlife actually made me laugh out loud. Your understanding of the rewards of the afterlife are that of a child. Try understanding your religion a little more if you’re going to speak of it with such conviction. Your opinion (about almost everything apparently) is vastly different from mine; however, you’re entitled to your own opinion as I am to mine. I stand by what I said in my first comment. Cheers!Recommend
@Seema Shaikh:
Another thing i forgot to mention that how did you assume that i was more infulenced by the revengeful behaviour of the husband and less sympathetic towards the poor wife?Recommend
@Diddly poo:
You also need to open up your mind to understand things. Whether it’s afterlife or present life men and women should be equal. Only in this way aggressive and criminal minded men will learn not to throw acid in women’s face. Why do men think themselves superior than women? Just because of this inequality which put women at much lower status than men. Please go on youtube.com and type “Janat ki Hoor” and you will come up with a link which will explain you all that how do ignorant priests mislead people regarding man’s superiority over woman in our society. How do these Mullanas portray women as sex objects who will also please these men in janat where every man will get 72 wives and wine with much more enjoyment than in worldly life. How do these ignorant, narrow minded, sex obsessed Mullanas are making Islam a religion which belongs only to men. In villages and small cities where most of the population only listen to these mullanas, how these low life creatures are brain washing people.
Kamal Attaturk did the right thing by putting all such priests in a big ship and drowned them in the middle of the ocean.
Pakistan also need to drown all such mullanas in the middle of the ocean then the situation in Pakistan will also change.
Unless people mind will not change such violence on women will keep on going.Recommend
The column created a lot of confusion as it was satirical. I don’t think that JC helps such brutality. He was jeering the man whom he was interviewing. But at the end, the comes to the climax. He seems to be instructive. His intention might not be bad, as Mehreen Pointed out in her comment. I always instruct a girl to think properly and take action. Severe action against such people who try to do something wrong. Do try to inform and demonstrate. What this sick man did is always condemnable. He should be put behind prison and everyone who tries to commit such acts must be punished.
We see sometimes men are victim too. Not only in Pakistan but in the rest of the world. The women needs proper thinking. She should think how to put the right case forward. She must be able to act justly and properly and within moral and legal jurisdictions. I think everyone accept this.
No man is above a woman. Woman has the same right as of a man. Her right must be respected and honoured. She is no inferior. And a woman must be reasonable too. Now it does not mean that the woman should do what she wants. She must be respectable. And whenever she is in danger or getting threats she must publicise it and protest against it. I strongly oppose violence whether that is done by men or women. Both have the same rights and have to exercise their right logically. No one should pour acid on someone’s face. It is punishable.Recommend
@Tahmina:
You’re right.One must act legally. If any law that is against women that must be annulled. Equal laws for both. No one is allowed to act personally, let infuriation subside, it should cause pouring acid on one’s face or any physical violence. Women is not recognized and given equal rights in our society. It is really bad and condemnable. It is hurtful.Recommend
@Faraz Talat:
Man he is a journo. His work is to listen and write. He can’t kill anyone. So you think JC must have suffocated that man. You are equally violent. Try to understand what he has written. Abira is just publicising herself by being bold with irrational arguments. He did not advocate anything. He just wrote the story. He left the rest on the readers. Don’t be mindless. Be a reasonable reader.Recommend
@Mahreen:
You’re totally right. I agree with you.Recommend
Interesting discussion here. Seems some people are working hard to defend their point of view to others. Anyhow, well written blog, agree with the author. Disgusted by JC’s words and those who feel similar. Misogyny is disgustingly rampant and often too easily accepted in Pakistan.Recommend
Dear Author you should read the article again and again……………………Recommend
Yes the Author needs to read the article again and again because Javed Chaudhry is not advocating the acid thrower only the acid thrower is advocating his point of view.Recommend
First of all i am realy disappointed by Ariba for her absolute biased analysis. Columnist has not favoured the act of perpetrator even in single sentence. He calls perpetrator VEHSHI, shows his hatred towards the perpetrator. What he is trying, He offers the readers to view the other side of picture. .Women should not take this as matter of Ego. Just think how we ( males and females) can contribute to the society in avoiding such crimes. because every time there is some basis for any such crime. Be cool and think about it.Recommend
@adnan khan:
a husband should only expect those qualities in his wife if HE also has the qualities of fidelity, chastity, kindness and affection.
If he’s the crazy kind who beats his wife, there is no reason for her to put up with his rubbish.
Remember, Islam is strictly against cruelty and oppression, and it is said in the Quran that a person who bears oppression is as blameworthy as the one who oppresses. And unequal relationships with men having the upper hand always are a FORM OF OPPRESSION.Recommend