In Pakistan, women search for freedom, but the law chains them

“My husband accused me of having an affair,” said Arshad, 35, her hand covering her mouth as she spoke quietly of the serious criminal charge that has disgraced her.

After a judge acquitted her in May, she joined thousands of other women living in a growing network of Government and private shelters. She spends her days cooking, sewing and sad. Despite the judge’s verdict, the shame of the charge has narrowed her already-limited options in life.

It is rare for a Pakistani woman accused of having illicit sex to talk publicly or allow herself to be photographed. But Arshad spoke freely about once taboo subjects, saying: “I have done nothing wrong.”

Increasing numbers of Pakistani women are becoming aware of gender inequities, a trend emerging in the developing world as the communications revolution brings cellphones, satellite television and the Internet to the poorest villages.

“More women are aware of their rights,” said Naeem Mirza, programme director for the Aurat Foundation, a leading women’s rights organisation. As more women join the workforce and assert their independence, he said, there is growing conflict between men and women.

“Husbands and brothers are using these laws to take revenge on women” who are not behaving as they want, said Noor Alam Khan, a lawyer who represents prisoners in Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.

A study by the Aurat Foundation found that about three times a day somewhere in Pakistan, relatives file complaints with police alleging that a daughter or wife has been “abducted with the intent of illicit sexual relations”, one of the various laws governing sexual behaviour.

The aim of these charges is often not a successful prosecution, said Hina Jilani, one of the nation’s leading female lawyers and founder of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “It’s to harass and intimidate women.”

Farazana Zahir, a 20-year-old woman from Lahore, said she was forced to marry her cousin and now wants a divorce. “I strongly believe I should have choices — of whom I marry, how I spend my time,” she said in an interview.

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