The present society is said to be male-dominated and the ultra-conservative all-men gatherings have repeatedly enjoyed independence.
The horrors of forcefully stopping women from casting votes (in 2013), collecting cash grants from government authorities and even calling local FM radio stations (in 2021) are not behind us, and the less said about countless stonings, mandatory settlements with rapists among other acts of vile gender violence, the better for our consciences.
But in a new twist and an appalling contrast to gender mainstreaming movements, elders in Bajaur have decided to shut doors on women tourists across their tehsil.
The feudal elders in Bajaur have been known for passing extremely backward decisions in the past, some of which even drew the ire of former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar who had called the jirga proceedings an encroachment on “the civil and criminal jurisdictions” and “violative of Articles 4, 8, 10-A, 25 and 175 (3) of the Constitution,” but have lately started to cause unrest among the local population. But to see a leading member of a political party sitting on the treasury benches join arms with the dissidents and even threaten to enforce the ban if the government looked the other way is a far more unpleasant occurrence.
For anyone who thought Pakistan’s political elite had stepped out of the dark alleys of the past where they tacitly agreed to tales of horror and blood ordained by jirgas, the JUI-F district leadership and its obsession with reducing women’s freedom of movement has come with a strong whiff of a resilient patriarchal culture.
And while the announcement does not enjoy the support of either constitution or the law, the uncertainty created by the dangerous enunciations is bound to affect the traffic flow to these lands. Isn’t it downright tragic that only days after males across the country were screaming–to whoever would listen–about the double standards of the Global Gender Gap Report as it denounced the widespread stumbling blocks for women, they are back to doing what they do best: subjugating women with the vigour of elephants trampling the grass. *
