i_love_china
27.08.05, 22:47
Islam to jednak jest totalnie popieprzona ideologia....
Escaping Pakistan
By Nadia Mohammad
August 2, 2005
"Wake up, it's time," my mom said, "Be very quiet."
My hands trembled as I dressed in the dark, putting on the one pair of jeans
I owned. It felt odd after so many years of wearing the traditional Pakistani
shalwar kameez. My sister looked at me bewildered, still half-asleep.
"What's going on?"
"Shh. Be quiet," my mom told her and my brother, "Listen to me and you'll get
a surprise."
I watched through the keyhole in our room door as my grandfather completed
his daily morning routine - return from early morning prayers at the mosque,
make a cup of tea, open the curtains in the living room, march back upstairs
to his bedroom.
"Ok, he's gone, we can leave," I whispered.
The front gate was locked. My mom climbed over first, I handed her my little
brother and sister before climbing over myself.
Please, Allah, do not let anyone see us, I prayed.
An unmarked car was in front of the house watching and waiting to cut off
anyone who followed us. Next door our neighbors from the United Nations were
providing vigilance as well. I expected at any moment to see one of my uncles
come running out and drag us back into the house. But no one came.
We turned into an alley down the street; another unmarked car was parked
there. A man and woman sat in front.
The rear passenger door opened, "Hi there!"
The thick American accent shocked me for a minute. I stood there waiting,
unsure what to do next.
"Go on, get in," my mom said.
As we got in, we were told to crouch in the backseat. Despite the car's
tinted windows they wanted to ensure we were not identified as we drove to
the airport. The plane had been delayed at the airport waiting for us to
board.
Stay calm, I told myself. Breathe.
Sounds like the premise to a Lifetime movie - Escaping Pakistan, it would be
called. Films such as Not Without My Daughter come to mind, as do the stories
of numerous women appearing on TV magazine shows such as 20/20 and 60
Minutes. More often than not, these tales involve Islam as a motive. As
Muslims, we are quick to dismiss these accounts as Western propaganda against
Islam, for they stir up the most degrading stereotypes about the Muslim
world, Islamic civil rights and, in particular, women's rights in the Islamic
world. (After all, we couldn't possibly have extremists in our culture.)
Unfortunately, the story is all too true for many women like my mother. The
husband, oftentimes after experiencing a "religious re-awakening," fearing
his children are growing up as kafirs in the West, will take the wife and
family to his homeland on a trip and keep them, literally, as hostages. Any
resistance from the wife is handled with physical abuse. In other instances,
in the middle of a custody battle, the husband will take the children to his
native country. Most of these children never return.
My mother had both cases happen to her. Initially my father, a newly "reborn"
Muslim, took us - my mother, sister, brother and I - to Pakistan under the
pretense that we were going to be lost to American culture. While he returned
to the U.S. we were kept in my grandparents' house in Islamabad - all four of
us in one room. Our money and passports were taken away. We were not allowed
to leave the house. Though we managed to escape Pakistan after four years,
when we returned my father took my younger siblings back to Pakistan while my
mother was filing for custody.
Each year there are more than 200,000 cases of parental abduction in the
United States. As of May 2003, the U.S. State Department cited 904 known
unresolved cases of international parental kidnapping. (It must be noted,
that a case is considered closed when a foreign government denies the request
to return the children.) At least a quarter of these cases were estimated to
have taken place in Islamic nations. Statistics of cases of women trapped
with their children overseas are more difficult to determine simply because
these women are treated as captives by their husbands and many of these
countries have a chronic history of oppressing women. In addition, they are
regarded as domestic disputes and go unreported.
In 1988 United States signed The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction, under which the United States and 48 other
signatories have agreed to "secure the prompt return of children wrongfully
removed to or retained in" another member country, and "to ensure that rights
of custody are effectively respected." Presently no Islamic country has
signed the treaty except for Turkey and Bosnia. Five years after The Hague,
Congress passed the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, making the
removal or retention of a child outside of the United States a federal
offense if done in violation of a custody order. This enables the government
to seek extradition of the parent in any country. Despite the legal measures
available here in the U.S., the State Department maintains that there is
little the government can do to help legally. In its handbook for parents of
internationally abducted children the State Department says, "the deprived
parent, must direct the search and recovery operation," and, "child-custody
disputes remain fundamentally private legal matters between the parents
involved, over which the Department of State has no jurisdiction." It also
recommends that if the children are young enough and have resided with the
other parent for over six months abroad, it is in the best interest of the
child to remain with that parent.
On the other end, speaking specifically on Muslim countries, the disturbing
fact is the father's actions can be upheld by law and religious culture. In
patriarchal societies such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, for example, the
father has absolute authority over his wife and children's lives in
accordance with Islamic law. The children are automatically viewed as
citizens based on their father's nationality and can be prevented from
leaving the country without his permission. Saudi law, in particular, forbids
women from traveling without a male guardian. Even if divorce is granted the
woman may have difficulty getting custody of the children in accordance to
Hanafi law, which states children beyond the age of seven should reside with
the father. (It must be stated, however, that Pakistan law differs from Saudi
law, as the Pakistani legal system does provide for the best interests of the
child, under the Ward Act of 1890.) If the mother is a foreign national the
chances of her receiving custody lessen, and if she is a non-Muslim the
chances of her being granted custody in a Muslim nation are almost nil. Women
trapped in these situations usually do not have any legal resources available
and face either succumbing to the wishes of their husband or facing his wrath
and losing their children. Mothers who attempt to regain custody of their
children in these countries even with the support of The Hague or U.S. law
suffer to no avail. The children are usually never returned.
In our case, when my father took my brother and sister back to Pakistan, my
mother gained custody of the two of them here in the States. My father
returned to the U.S. on his own just shy of six months later and was promptly
arrested at the airport. He was detained in U.S. custody until my siblings
were brought back.
Allhumdulillah, we were one of the fortunate ones. Not only were we able to
escape my father's family in Pakistan, my brother and sister were able to
return to my mother. For thousands of other women and children currently
being held against their will under what is claimed to be Islam this is not
the case. Their voice
