Saira Nusrat Bibi has become the latest victim in the barbaric cycle of arranged marriages and honor killings in Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries. Forced into a marriage at age nine to a 45-year-old man, she had taken the extraordinary step to fighting for an annulment. She was winning in that effort, but (now 17) was denounced by many in the country as an heretic against Islam. Her parents have now killed her in the latest honor killing.
The death of Saira Nusrat Bibi followed the burying alive of as many as five women who asserted their right to marry men of their own choosing in Baluchistan, Pakistan — an act defended by legislators as an honored tradition. It also follows a case of a father burying alive his daughter in Palestine, here.
Once again, the question is how long the world will remain silent in the face of this human rights abuse. Forced marriages and honor killings violent basic human rights for women and girls in these countries. Cloaking them in religion, however, has pushed countries into silence. The very act of marrying a nine-year-old girl is an atrocity. While religious fanatics insist that such marriages are only allowed under Sharia law with consent, a nine-year-old child should lack the legal capacity to consent to such an arrangement. Countries have to treat these killings and the pattern of abuses of women as an international offense worthy of condemnation and, if necessary, sanctions.
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No country can be considered civilized that allows these atrocities. As a parent the idea of my harming my children in the service of any belief is beyond conception. We should not, however, think of ourselves as being so far ahead of these barbaric societies. Anyone looking into the practice of Warren Jeff’s group would see little difference in the modus operandi.
ahhh, our “partners” in the war on Terror.
Bush makes the nicest friends.
as F-ed Up as it is we can not criticized them. Remember, just a couple of hundred years ago we killed and raped the Native Americans. Don’t get me wrong, If my neighbor was doing some shnit like that i think i would kill them with my bear hands before I allowed a 9yo to be murdered..oh damn..let me take my own advice and not call it it murder… Nervermind, i take it back..MURDERS!
What goes through the mind of a 45 year old man who wants to marry a 9 yr old girl? That is seriouly sick. And her parents kill her out of honor? What honor? How did she dishonor her family by not wanting to marry a child molestor?
Mike, you’re right, it’s no different than Warren Jeffs group. Thankfully, they don’t kill the girls (at least that’s what we may think).
Men like that just deserved to be shot. The thought of some 45 yr old guy wanting to sleep with a child makes me sick to my stomach. I have very very angry opinions about child molestors.