Violation of Human Rights in Pakistan
Imagine this for a moment. A teacher asks you to go to the school canteen and buy her a chicken burger. You go to the canteen; stand in line a senior comes and rudely pushes you out. You complain, senior laughs and ignores you. You go back to the end of the line and eventually, your turn comes. But all the chicken burgers are sold. When you return to the teacher, you are scolded for being late. Do you skip away and live happily ever after? No you don’t. Because you were treated unfairly and unjustly, your right was violated.
You’ll be hearing a lot about the bigger crimes in our country. There are two levels of violations in our country; macro and micro. Macro level abuses are the big crimes, like murder, rape, honour killings, bonded labour and trafficking. All these grim offenses are there, but there are other, smaller things, that is, the micro level aspects, which, though subtle, are the roots of our society’s evils. They are the little drops of water, which make the mighty ocean of injustice.
Generally speaking, one of the most dangerous people in Pakistan is a mother-in-law, for women, that is. These women are subjected to verbal abuse, constant nagging, not to mention, relentless sarcasm. They work like crazy from the crack of dawn till late at night. Aren’t they human? Is there no difference between them and housemaids? Yes, there is one. A maid is paid…a wife is not. The right of living comfortably and freely is smashed to pieces.
Since we’re on the subject of abuse, take a look at the way domestic servants are treated in our country. I’ve seen people, publicly insulting their servants for the slightest mistake. They’re humans too…with feelings, with a right to dignity. Did you know Hazrat Ali (Ra), used to give his slave new clothes for Eid and himself wore old ones. Here, people make 5-6 suits of different varieties, oblivious to the fact that their servants are in tatters.
Another issue affecting women is unequal opportunity where studies and jobs are concerned. I’ll touch upon the academic aspect now. Personally speaking, I want to study Aeronautical Engineering BUT Eligibility: male citizens of Pakistan. I am not. Is it my fault? It is my right to study the subject of my choice, but its being denied to me in my own country.
Moving away from women related issues, one major right that is violated is access to good jobs according to the qualification of people, men in particular. Not only is there a dearth of job opportunities, but also, nepotism prevails. The right to obtain means of livelihood is gone, with the wind.
According to a human rights report, in the year 1997, large scale sectarian violence claimed the lives of 195 people.
We talk about women issues, we shout about sectarian killings. But, wait a minute, we only SPEAK! We don’t do anything. The question is, how to do something. How can we, students and teachers of Pakistan ever make a difference. Martin Luther King said, and I quote,
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
And the first step, starts from the basics, the grass root level, the trivial wrongs we all take for granted today. See, if you forget women’s rights and other people’s rights for a minute and think about you and me; your rights and my rights. Do we really have them? Think again. Do we have access to clean drinking water? Or we have to depend on foreign imports for that? Do we have proper roads to drive on? What was the recent strike against selling of meat, if not a violation of our rights? Why is it, that we all are so scared of registering a police case? Isn’t it so, that when you visit the canteen of justice, either you are rudely pushed out of line by the influential people, or the food of justice has all sold out.
But, even after all this, all hope is not lost. We just have to know our rights first, and then we can do something about it. The best thing about it is, that we CAN make a difference. By a change in our attitudes…our mind set…our thinking and a rearrangement of our priorities. I do have a Dream!
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