Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Young And So Naughty

Children are such a pain. They're a burden, undisciplined, unreasoning, stubborn. And always and forever getting into trouble. What's a parent to do? Well, how about putting them in chains? That wouldn't fly in most places, but there are areas of the world where it does, evidently. It might break some peoples' hearts to see children weeping hysterically, frightened and beside themselves with the anguish of rejection. Obviously it does nothing of the sort for some truly fed-up parents.
A young student cries after being rescued following a police raid on <span class=
A young student cries after being rescued following a police raid on Madrassah Zakarya in Karachi last Monday. Police rescued 45 students found chained in the basement. Photograph by: Asif Hassan, AFP, Getty Images, The Daily Telegraph

"They are young and so naughty. I was worried they would run away. This was to straighten them out for a month." This is Umar Khan, who brought his two boys to Karachi's Madrassah Zakarya for instruction in the Holy Koran, and how to be a good and honourable Muslim. How to be young men their father would be proud of. Who would honour tradition and their culture.

They needed the impulsive spontaneity of children to be drained out of their young spirits. To understand their obligations to their father, to their community, to their education, to their religion. Above all, they had to begin being responsible, and stop irritating and annoying their father. They're back home now. No doubt happy to be there, too.

Even though their father, when he brought them to the Madrassah Zakarya for induction into civility and the sublime messages conveyed in the Koran through the auspices of the caring instructors of the madrassah, brought along with him two sets of chains and padlocks, just in case the madrassah had used up all the available ones they owned themselves.

"If they are naughty I'll send them to an even worse place where they are chained even tighter", said Umar Khan, roaring with laughter.

The two boys, Mohammed Haroon 13, and Mohammed Shazwar 10, are undoubtedly prepared to behave in a more respectful, sedate manner now that they are home again. Their home being far preferable, understandably, than the madrassah from which they and 42 other children were rescued from.

Mohammed Haroon, who had spent a mere two weeks at the madrassah, delivered there by his father, enraged because his son had been accused of stealing a neighbour's wheelbarrow, is also relieved to be back home. "If we were being naughty then we would be beaten. We knew that's how it works." This is where Pakistani children, the indigent poor, including Afghan refugees, were sent to receive an education.

It is not surprising, after due consideration, that these madrassahs turned out bitter, angry young men with no employment prospects who had taken to heart the lessons learned about the value of violent jihad and martyrdom which would guarantee them a place in Paradise, dear to the heart of Allah for having committed themselves to the defence of Islam.

As for the girl children of Pakistan, with their early marriages and lifetime of bondage, the latest news on that front is that of a young Pakistani man, Ghulam Qadir, 22, who had been enraged by his 18-year-old wife's spending too much time with her parents. To ensure that she was aware of the deep level of his disapproval, he hacked into her face with a knife, cutting off her nose and her lips.

There is no administration of 'justice' for women and girls whose menfolk become irritated at their defiance of strictures to obey their husbands' rulings.

Latest news report out of Pakistan:
At least 675 "honour" killings were carried out in Pakistan during the first nine months of the year, according to a human rights group that is calling for urgent steps to protect women and girls. The shocking tally highlights the scale of violence against women in conservative, rural parts of the Muslim country, where rape victims are routinely sentenced to death by village elders, and murderers can escape court by paying blood money. Zohra Yusuf, chairman of the Human Rights commission of Pakistan, said too many cases were dismissed by police as private, family affairs.

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