Women Molestation and its politicisation

Binita Tiwari
Such incident freezes me to death and suddenly I feel haunted yes haunted for the beautiful dream I carry to have a girl child…screams of girls follow me and I dash my head on the wall.
Molestation has become a trend these days there was Kochi, Chennai, Tiruvanathpuram and Uipur to tag along Mumbai where the molestation case has taken a very different turn.
Suddenly the case has got a political hue..Nothing astonishing! In India every incidents are converted into one to get more and more mileage out of it. Newly formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has emerged as the armament of the 14 youth arrested in Mumbai Molestation case.
To hell with the shamelessness of these men, they appear with tilak on their forehead and plead that they are innocent in a press conference.
One fine day R R Patil, the deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra said that such case should not be bailable, he did the right thing he made a place in the heart of millions of parents, millions of such victims who suffer. They suffer because of the helplessness and over a period of time they forget what they said but it gets etched in people’s mind.
This is our politicians, who every now and then make us weak. Few days back euphoric Modi said to the crowd “I'm the CM, will remain CM forever” and he went on clarifying that CM stands for ‘Common Man’. How can they ever say like that? People vote them to power thinking that they are not just ordinary people they are the leader, they should go ahead and set an example.
When Raj Thackeray said that no Maharashtrian would behave in such a way, is not that he tried to demean the victim’s suffering? What about those photographs?
So, here is a message again that “No body is there to fight your fight ‘WOMAN’”.
Yes somebody has aptly said “Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.” But the women folk here have a different story to tell, many of those who dream to move ahead in life sounds positive but at the same time there is resentment against the authoritative law, politicians and police.
That is what Saloni Singh Parmar, an aspirant of Judicial Services says, “Being a law student I know that there are certain loopholes in our judicial system, if law is there to speak loud on something it remain silent at so many places where there is an urgent need.”
But a woman in her could not hide her feelings, “I feel that men should undergo such humiliation a woman has to pass through when she is molested,” she furies.
“Will ever a woman be able to breath freely outside her home without fear?” she asks.
“Modesty of almost every woman is insulted with such incident and keeping mum in such case only encourages them to do such crime, lets stop them,” she urges the womenfolk.
“Molestation is a heinous crime; it shows the mentality of Indian men living in the society. Stricter laws should be made against women’s violation to keep women safe and maintain a healthier environment,” said Tulika and Namrata from faculty of Political Science., Jamia Milia Islimia University.
Indira Basumatary another student from Political Science Department of Jamia Milia Islamia University said, “There should be death and only death for a rapist or a molester then only this society will see the change it is craving for.”
“Many legal experts say that if death penalty is there for such case there is a chance that innocent people too will become victim of such punishment but then what to those innocent girls who died without any fault,” she complains.
“Punish the culprits in worst possible way, barbaric punishment for barbaric act,” she says with a thump.
“The centre is trying to play safe by directing the state governments to review safety and security of foreign as well as the domestic tourists specially women tourists. They are forgetting that every human female whether Indian or alien is vulnerable in this land of male predators,” says Sarita Tripathi an UPSC aspirants on the alleged molestation in Kochi, Udaipur and Tiruvanathpuram.
“I take no pride to be called as Sita, you call me shrewd and I will say ‘Damn it if I am and Damn it if I am not’ ” she sounds confident.
Hema Patra says “It all in the mind lets shrugged this attitude of pointing fingers at ourselves even when there is no fault of ours.”
This civil services aspirants boldly asked women to be stronger in their belief and pull themselves to stand against all odds.
But the discussions here still go as there is a deep gash in their mind, the mind which has stopped taking the things other cook and give; they have a point to prove.
But then there is a need that every woman must stand and speak up..as Faiz Ahmad Faiz , a famous Pakistani Poet has said..( bol ki lab azad hain tere,bol zaban ab tak teri hai….bol ye thoda waqt bahot hai,jism-o-zabaan ki maut se pahale,bol ki sach zinda hai ab tak,bol jo kuchh kahane hai kah le..)
Speak, for your lips are yet free;Speak, for your tongue is still your own;…..
Speak, this brief hour is long enough, Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,Speak, speak, whatever you must speak!

poems by faiz

Loneliness

Loneliness like a good, old friend
visits my house to pour wine in the evening.
And we sit together, waiting for the moon,
and for your face to sparkle in every shadow.


Last Night
Last night your lost memory visited my heartas
spring visits the wilderness quietly
,as the breeze echoes the silence of her footfalls
in the desert,
as peace slowly, softly descends on one's sickness.

Tonight
Do not strike the chord of sorrow tonight!
Days burning with pain turn to ashes.
Who knows what happens tomorrow?
Last night is lost; tomorrow's frontier wiped out:
Who knows if there will be another dawn?
Life is nothing, it's only tonight!Tonight we can be what the gods are!

Do not strike the chord of sorrow, tonight!
Do not repeat stories of sufferings now,
Do not complain, let your fate play its role,
Do not think of tomorrows, give a damn--
Shed no tears for seasons gone by,
All sighs and cries wind up their tales,
Oh, do not strike the same chord again!

Speak
Speak, your lips are free.
Speak, it is your own tongue.
Speak, it is your own body.
Speak, your life is still yours.

See how in the blacksmith's shop
The flame burns wild, the iron glows red;
The locks open their jaws,And every chain begins to break.

Speak, this brief hour is long enough
Before the death of body and tongue:
Speak, 'cause the truth is not dead yet,
Speak, speak, whatever you must speak.

Stanza
If they snatch my ink and pen,
I should not complain,
For I have dipped my fingersIn the blood of my heart.
I should not complain
Even if they seal my tongue,
For every ring of my chainIs a tongue ready to speak.

My Interview
The wall has grown all black, upto the circling roof.
Roads are empty, travellers all gone.
Once againMy night begins to converse with its loneliness;
My visitor I feel has come once again.
Henna stains one palm, blood wets another;
One eye poisons, the other cures.

None leaves or enters my heart's lodging;
Loneliness leaves the flower of pain unwatered,
Who is there to fill the cup of its wound with color?

My visitor I feel has come once again,
Of her own will, my old friend--her name
Is Death: a friend in need, yet an enemy--
The murderess and the sweetheart!

Translated by Azfar Hussain

PAKISTAN: Capital writers shower tributes on Benazir

Islamabad --- Writers, intellectuals, civil society and human rights activists at a literary reference here on Tuesday showered tributes on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The literary reference was organised jointly by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Strengthening Participatory Organizations (SPO) in memory of the slain PPP leader and to pay homage to her struggle for democracy and sacrifices she and her family made for democracy and rule of law.
The heavy downpour failed to stop people from coming in large numbers. Among them were poets, students, teachers and civil society activists. The participants sat on the floor beneath a large photograph of Ms Bhutto who was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Liaqat Bagh on December 27.
Inaugurating the session, Dr Abid Sulehri stated that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was an attack on the already weak democratic polity of Pakistan.
"To condemn this gruesome act of violence you do not have to be a PPP supporter. A vast majority of citizens have expressed their grief and shock on this incident", poet and civil society activist Harris Khalique said.
Dr Sulehri and Harris stressed the need for disengagement of army from politics, curbing extremism and ensuring the realisation of civil, political, economic and social rights of citizens.
Harris Khalique presented his poem:
Jo sab kehte rahe yunhi woh hum kerke dikhatey hain
Chalo iss baar uss ke ishq mein marke dikhatey hain
Hum apni jaan ko uss jaan-i-jaan pe vaar dete hain
Watan ke khakdan ko khoon se bhar ke dikhatey hain
Humaari ik ik laghzish bahee khatey mein likhhi hay
Lahoo sey qarz-i-bai qeemat ada karke dikahtey hain
Ye naaray hain, nahein faryaad ya aah-o-buka hargiz
Falak tak jab pohonch jaein asar karke dikhatey hain.
Addressing the gathering, poet Iftikhar Arif, who presided over the meeting said, Benazir Bhutto was a symbol of the federation, a symbol of Pakistan at the international level and at home, hope for the vulnerable and the weak.
He recited his popular poem "kab tamasha khatm hoga" and concluded his homage with his ghazal "Dua".
Sharing his memories of the slain leader, former ambassador B.A. Malik said Benazir was not dead but had achieved immortality. Her assassination was a continuation of the process that started with the killing of Liaquat Ali Khan followed by the assassination of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and other Left-wing political activists like Hassan Nasir and Nazir Abbasi who struggled for democracy and dignity of the people of Pakistan.
Mr Malik demanded a UN investigation in the assassination case. He also asked military to remain out of politics and demanded restoration of democracy in the country through free, fair and transparent elections.
He also condemned the calculated disinformation campaign of the government, by which it wanted to distort the facts and to mislead the nation.
Ms Gohar Jamal said no ideology could succeed without sacrifices and Bhutto family had given historic sacrifices for the democracy and people of Pakistan which could never be forgotten. These sacrifices gave us hope and courage to stand in the way of tyrants, she added.
Several other participants including, Ahmed Saleem, Aliya Mirza, Naeem Mirza, Khadim Soomro, Amjad Nazeer, Arshad Bhatti, Tauqir Chughtai, Bilal Naqeeb and Pashtu poets Ali Akbar Sial and Ibrar Mohammad Khan paid tributes to the courage and sacrifices of Bhutto family. They presented their own poems as well as works of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Habib Jalib, Munir Niazi, Akhtar Hussain Jafri and Anton Chekhov.
They urged the intelligentsia, writers, artistes and opinion makers to make deeper analysis of the problems faced by Pakistan.
Nageen Hayat, Director Nomad Art Gallery, on behalf of Women Action Forum and Insaani Haqooq Ittehad, read a declaration condemning Benazir's assassination and demanded high level investigation and restoration of democracy in the country through fair and transparent elections.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Faiz Ahmed Faiz (فيض احمد فيض), (1984 - 1911) was a Pakistani poet considered to be one of the most famous modern Urdu poets. He was born in Sialkot, in the Punjab of pre-independence India (now Pakistan). After the partition of 1947, he decided to live in Pakistan, and died in Lahore. Faiz was a member of the Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind (Progressive Writers' Movement), and an avowed Marxist. In 1962 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union.

In the 1930s Faiz Ahmed Faiz married Alys Faiz, a British woman. They had two daughters. Alys Faiz's influence on Faiz's life and poetry is reputed to have been great.