I call on the loyal journalists of the women’s lib, the sympathizing leaders of distressed and unhappy woman hood, the supporting NGO volunteers of helpless ladies, the ministers who give out million Rupee apartments to shelter-less females; whose loud claims of compassion, kindness, and selfless-ness are resounding in the media……..I call upon you, if you can find the time, to sit and ponder over your conduct: what kind of sympathy is this that is exclusive to the inexperienced and naïve daughters who forget everything once they jump into the mires of disgrace? They forget what their religion says, their family and social values, their social responsibility, the demands of chastity and maidenliness, their young brothers and sisters, they do not stop to think about any of these. They forget the mother who brought them in the world, who nurtured them to young womanhood, gave them appropriate education, put away their own jewels for their daughters’ future, hoarded things from their meager allowances to keep for their daughters’ dowry; they forgot the father who agonized over their future and their chastity, who spent angst-ridden nights praying for their prospects, who had eyed many as potentials for them, made inquiries into many a family backgrounds………..one day, these loving, caring, worrying parents hear the stunning news that their darling daughter has run away and contracted a “Love Marriage”.

They know full well that this man who has taken off with their daughter with proclamations of love and loyalty is a liar, a swindler, a libertine, a shameless cheat who will throw their daughter by the wayside, accusing her of being a “runaway miss” before a couple of years are out, only to entice some other unfortunate maiden. Their daughter will come home with the ignominy of divorce and the pain of rejection. She will be here nor there with a dark future for herself and her sisters too. Their experienced and weathered parents have seen dozens of such young men who “enjoy” themselves in the name of marriage.

It has also come about that some of these girls ended up in the dark alleys; dancing away the nights before strange men. It has also come about that a few cheap compliments and a few insincere promises coerced these girls, whose mutilated bodies were later found in canals or sewerages. It has also happened that the same faces that had been called beauty itself turned into ugliness after a few squirts of acid from lewd hands.

The selfless parents wish to save their daughters from this road to destruction in shameless hands….but….when such parents try to prevent a daughter dazed by ungodly trends in the name of “love”, to keep her in the safety of home, suddenly everyone is astir….from the hot bed of journalism, the stage of politics, from the mansions of ministers, from the taverns of NGO’s; comes a medley of voices.

Oh no! these parents are out of their senses, they are not sympathetic, they are oppressors, they are merciless, obstacles in the way of love, relics of old times, they cannot live up to the new times……….away with them! We don’t need such purists, we don’t have a place for them in our modern age.

Think! Is this not the same outlook taken by an honorless nation to the teachings of their great prophet who taught them morality? That nation said about their prophet:
“The people of his nation spoke and they had nothing (better) to say than this, that drive out the family of Lot from your town, (because) they wish to become chaste”
(An Nahal)

Everyone is shooting their mouth off, leaders, ministers, journalists, NGO workers, there seems to be a sort of contest going on with a host of offers on hand for absconding females….some are presenting delectable jobs, some are offering houses, others are giving out visas. They are being asked for interviews, photo sessions to improve newspaper circulations, hot stories of the whole farce. The poor parents are lamenting to the high intellects of journalists, to the new age leaders, to spare them the disgrace and shame of having the name of their families splattered on TV, radio, and papers. To spare them the pain of having their daughters made a laughing stock, or being presented in the guise of a model girl or actress. But no one listens. From Islamabad to Karachi, from Karachi to London, people are harping on the same thing. A naive girl is being made the springboard for personal and political attacks. Why don’t these brainy journalists and broad minded politicians stop to think what destruction of young minds and morals their support of the matter is causing? Have they forgotten the injunction of Allah:

“Lo! Those who love that slander should be spread among the believers, theirs will be a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. Allah knows and you do not know.”
(Surah al-Noor)

The result of this open backing of immodesty is that the younger sister of the same girl who was being projected as a star, has rebelled against her parents and refused to live under their protection.

Is this sympathy, to coerce young girls to run away from their homes and destroy the fabric of family life? Why have the real tragedies of tribal, rural, and urban women been ignored in favor of misleading stories that lead to obscenity, indecency, and ignorance?

I call on the loyal journalists of the women’s lib, the sympathetic leaders of distressed and unhappy woman hood, the supporting NGO volunteers of helpless ladies, the ministers who give out million Rupee apartments to shelter-less females……………. if you have any compassion in you, then try and do something about those genuinely distressed and oppressed women who are dying for a mouthful of food, those who die a new death every day.