By Rabia Ali
Karachi: Sixteen-year-old Shazia lies almost lifeless in the Gynaecological Ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), while her husband and alleged tormenter, Siddiq, waits for the court to decide his fate.
The violence that Siddiq and his mother allegedly inflicted on Shazia for eleven months has left her speechless and motionless. A resident of Qasba Colony, Shazia belongs to a Pakhtun family. Like most girls in her family, she was married off at the tender age of 15, her mother Pashmina told The News. “Siddiq and his mother Surkhaee treated my daughter in the most atrocious ways one could even think off. They ironed her back like one irons clothes. Then for 20 days, they inflicted torture on her genitals by inserting chillies into it,” Pashmina wept.
Shazia shivers when she hears her mother cry, but doesn’t say anything. A victim of ruthless domestic violence, Shazia’s neck has been battered by the iron chains which were allegedly used to tie her up. A section of her head is bald. Pashmina said that Siddiq and his family used to pluck Shazia’s hair with a nail attached to a wooden stick. “Siddiq and his eight brothers used to take turns to punch her.
They have damaged her jaws, and now she cannot chew properly. They used to pull her nails out with pliers. They had special rods and sticks with which they beat her. The ‘justifications’ which Siddiq and Surkhaee used to give Shazia for doing so was that they were in possession of Djinns which made them torture her,” Pashmina said, before breaking down in tears again.
Shazia, the second last of eight siblings, was married off to 23-year-old Siddiq a year ago. According to Pashmina, Siddiq hails from Kabul and works as a junk-dealer in Karachi. “We are not related to them, and his proposal was referred by a matchmaker. The early days of Shazia’s marriage were happy ones, but a month after the wedding, Siddiq barred Shazia from meeting us,” Pashmina said. This ‘order’ was duly accepted by Shazia’s family who did not want to “create obstacles” in the girl’s marital life. “I thought my child was leading a happy life. I had no idea what was happening with her,” Pashmina said.
Meanwhile, as Shazia fights for her life in the hospital, no NGO or civil society organisation has approached her family to offer support or assistance. “Only the adviser to Chief Minister, Sharmila Farooqui, paid a visit to the hospital. This made the doctors take better care of Shazia; she was previously being neglected by the staff here. Farooqui also promised to grant us aid, and we are waiting for that since we have no money for further treatment,” Pashmina told The News.
The family was also allegedly bribed by Siddiq in an attempt to deter them from pursuing the case. Pashmina, however, has vowed to fight till her daughter gets justice. “I demand justice for my daughter. What was her fault,” she asked.
Pashmina has vowed never to marry Shazia off again. “I will keep her with me, and as soon she gets well, we will file a case for divorce,” she said.
Meanwhile, Shazia’s mother-in-law, Surkhaee, who is also alleged to be Siddiq’s partner in inflicting torture on the teenager, is still at large, and has not been arrested yet.
The girl’s brother-in-law (sister’s husband), Noor Khan, said that Surkhaee and the rest of her family went underground after the police arrested Siddiq. “Only we know how were able to rescue Shazia,” Khan said. “We invited him and Shazia for dinner, and then told Siddiq to leave without his wife. At midnight, I lodged a case at the Pirabad Police station after which the police took action. Surkhaee, however, is yet to be arrested.”
Meanwhile, Rasheed, an official of the Pirabad Police Station, told The News that the matter will be investigated further once the witnesses from Shazia’s family record their statements. “We will decide who else to arrest once we have all the statements. Meanwhile Siddiq is at the lockup of the station till his remand (the end of the month),” he said.
Source: The News
Date:2/1/2010
