பெண்கள் படிப்பதற்கு பாகிஸ்தானில் எதிர்ப்பு

தொடர்ந்து தாலிபன் மயமாகி வரும் பாகிஸ்தானில் இப்போது பெண்கள் படிப்பதற்கு தீவிர எதிர்ப்பு வலுத்துவருகிறது.

பெஷாவர் இருக்கும் வடமேற்கு பாகிஸ்தான் பிராந்தியத்தில் பெண்கள் படிக்கக்கூடாது என்று எப் எம் ஸ்டேஷனின் மூலம் இஸ்லாமிய பிரச்சாரகர்கள் பிரச்சாரம் செய்து வருகிறார்கள்.

அவ்வாறு இஸ்லாமிய பிரச்சாரத்துக்கு எதிராக் பள்ளிக்கூடம் சென்றால் அவர்களுக்கு மிரட்டல்கள் விடப்படுகின்றன.

இதனால் எண்ணற்ற பெண்கள் படிப்பை நிறுத்திவிட்டதாக பல செய்திகள் வந்திருக்கின்றன

அதில் ஒரு செய்தி இதோ

Attack on Girls' Education in Northwest Pakistan
Extremist cleric spreads message through illegal FM channel

Marvaiz Khan (mashal34) Email Article Print Article

Published 2007-04-14 15:46 (KST)



MINGORA: The campaign launched by a religious cleric thorough his FM channel against girls' education is gaining momentum as hundreds of girl students have stopped attending their schools on the advice of their elders.

Maulana Fazlullah, a religious cleric with extremist views and son-in-law of Maulana Sufi Muhammad, chief of the defunct Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-Muhammadi (TNSM) has launched an aggressive campaign against girls' education through his illegal FM channel from a small village of Imam Dheri close to Mingora Town of the Swat district in Northwest Pakistan.

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Every night after the Esha prayers he delivers special sermons on the topic terming girls' education against Islamic injunctions and as a source of obscenity and vulgarity. Sources say that followers of Maulana Fazlullah have now started wall-chalking as a means for the communication of their fundamentalist religious views on girls' education and administering polio drops to children. According to one report about 1,100 children were deprived of polio drops during the previous anti-polio campaign.

Though exact figures of the girls withdrawn from schools have not been found, the majority of the residents in the rural areas of Mingora are subscribing to the extremist views of the Maulana and forbidding their girls to attend the schools. The number is increasing every day.

"There are some people who don't consent to these views but due to fear can not express even a single word against them," a resident of the area told this scribe on condition of anonymity, adding that the Maulana mainly targets women in his religious sermons.

A teacher in a local school Ahmad Ali said that the defunct TNSM movement, which had supported a Taliban style government in the region, is now showing its head in a new shape.

"The Maulana is working very systematically. First he instigated the people to burn their TV sets, computers, CD players and VCRs which he had termed sources of vulgarity, then he targeted women in his speeches and motivated them to stand against their husbands if they refuse to grow beards and now he [is] discouraging all girls students to go to their educational institutions. Of course, he is propagating his own brand of Islam," the school teacher said.

A local lady councilor requesting anonymity explained that the religious clerk warned women of dire consequences both in this world and in the aftermath if they stepped out of their houses. "Women in the area are donating jewelery worth millions of rupees for the construction of the Maulana's religious Madrasah," she added.

It merits a mention here that immediately after the bombing of a religious Madrasah in Bajaur Agency which killed about 80 people including close relatives of Maulana Fazlullah, he laid the foundation of this Madrassa along the river Swat.

"Every day in the morning hundreds of Maulana followers from the surrounding villages leave their household duties and come here to work in the construction work of the Madrasah with a religious zeal. People are also donating millions of rupees for meeting the construction cost in response to the Maulana's appeal for money," Shah Alam, a resident of the area said.

When Jamal Nasir Khan, the district Nazim, was asked whether he was concerned about the current situation in his area, he replied that definitely he was concerned about the situation as many girls would be deprived of their basic right -- education. "Due to cultural barriers we are already faced with low literacy ratio among the women. The new offensive against girls education launched by the Maulana will further endanger future of our females," he maintained.

The district Nazim suggested that the best way to counter the move was to establish parallel radio stations by the government in the area. He added that besides in Swat there were also a number of illegal FM Radio channels in the surrounding districts of Dir, Buner and Shangla, which were used by the religious clerics for the propagation of their self-styled religious views.

An official in the district government confided to this reporter that authorities were helpless in the face of the growing influence of Maulana Fazlullah, adding that some ministers and Members of the Assembly were supporting his extremist agenda to increase their vote banks and secure their seats in the next general elections.

"The situation has become very alarming and it may fan a new wave of extremism We have not enough resources and authority to take any action against the illegal FM channels. This is for the provincial and federal government to resolve the situation thorough a Jirga and if not possible then thorough a major operation against all illegal Radio stations", he said.

He elaborated, that it is very ironic that the Maulana is motivating the people to break or burn their TV sets and VCRs while on the other hand listening to his own radio transmissions is permitted in Islam and is seen as an act of great reward.

According to news reports, use of radio waves for the propagation of religious beliefs increased after attacks on Afghanistan by the U.S. and its allies.

There is one illegal FM radio stations operating in Peshawar, 11 in Chrasadda, four in Mardan, 28 in Swabi, 13 in Buner, four in Hangu, one in Karak, two in Mansehra and two in Batagram. In Pata, there were eight FM stations in the Lower Dir while three more were operating in the Upper Dir, 14 in Malakand and six in Swat.


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