Gang Rapes & Caste-Class Oppression Re: 450 women killed in Pak honour killings in 2002

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>On Sat, 15 Feb 2003, Ulhas Joglekar quoted a December 10th, Hindustan
>Times article (running an Agence France article) that said:
>
>  > More than 450 women killed in Pakistan 'honour killings' in 2002
>>
>>  Agence France-Presse
>>  Islamabad, December 10
>>
>>  More than 450 Pakistani women or girls were killed by relatives this
>>  year in so-called "honour killings," and at least as many were raped, a
>>  rights group [the private Human Rights Commission on Pakistan] said on
>>  Tuesday.
>
>Are the 469 rapes described in this article "honor rapes," so to speak?
>I'm familiar with honor killings, where a husband or brother kills a woman
>who has engaged in sex they didn't authorize.  But the more I read the
>South Asian papers, the more I hear mention of these "community ordered
>rapes," where village elders order the rape of a woman (very often a yong
>girl) in order to shame the family she belongs to, even though she has
>done nothing.  And by extension, it seems gang rape becomes considered a
>legitimate substitute for honor killing.  It's all pretty new to me and
>seems almost too bad to be true.  And yet it seems that to the editors and
>readers of these newspapers, it's such a familiar feature of the social
>landscape that's barely even newsworthy; the average article is short and
>goes into no detail.  Do you know where I can read something comprehensive
>about this phenomenon?  Do you (or anyone else) know if it occurs in
>tribal societies outside outside South Asia?  And does it have a
>particular phrase attached to it, similar to "honor killings," so that I
>could google it easier?
>
>Michael

A "community-ordered rape" is a misnomer.  The problem is patriarchy 
_and caste-class oppression_ in economically, politically, and 
culturally underdeveloped areas.  Here is the case of Mukhtiar Mai, a 
rape victim specifically mentioned in the AFP article that Ulhas 
posted:

*****   Pakistan Hunting Rapists
MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan, July 5, 2002

(CBS) Police searching for four men accused in the gang rape of an 
18-year-old girl as a tribal punishment believe they have fled their 
village to evade authorities.

As outrage at the rape grew, the government handed the victim a check 
for 500,000 rupees ($8,200) as compensation and promised that a 
school bearing her name will be built in her honor.

The gang rape took place June 22 in Meerwala village in southern 
Punjab province. Police said a tribal council ordered the rape as 
punishment for the victim's family after her 11-year-old brother was 
seen walking with a girl from a tribe considered _higher-caste_. The 
victim's family were from the Gujar tribe, the other tribe were 
Mastoi.

Local newspapers say the two were believed to be romantically involved.

Pakistan has a tradition of tribal justice in which crimes or 
affronts to dignity are punished outside the framework of Pakistani 
law. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded an end to 
punishments by tribal councils.

Police say the tribal verdict was illegal.

The suspects are well known in the village but have disappeared since 
the rape....

(Emphasis added, 
<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/17/world/main515415.shtml>) 
*****

Have you ever seen _The Bandit Queen_?  I recall that the film's 
subject Phoolan Devi did not like the film, but it does give us an 
idea of gang rapes employed to enforce caste-class oppression.
-- 
Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: 
<http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>
* Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>