Medieval madness
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The News International, Pakistan
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Life in our country moves along two roads – one leading towards progress and development, the other back into medieval times. We now hear that Mir Aali Bugti, the newly-elected chief of the Bugti tribe, plans to keep alive a ‘tradition’ in which people accused of crime must walk across burning coals to prove their innocence. Forty people are to be made the latest victims of this archaic practice. It is shocking that a young, educated leader should opt for such madness rather than challenging it.
The hold of tradition one lives is in many cases a damaging one. It is this realization that led to traditions such as the binding of the feet of women in China being barred. This is what progress and enlightenment is all about. Yet we see ‘honour’ killings and equally barbaric practices continue in the name of tradition. These must be ended. The government needs to play a part in doing so. The same rights, the same access to justice, the same norms of conduct must be available to all citizens in the country. It is frequently the poorest, the most vulnerable individuals who are made victims of practices such as the coal-walking trial planned in Dera Bugti. If these practices are not challenged, development and a move beyond our past will continue to elude us. Instead we will see only more acts of cruelty such as the burial alive of women that we saw last year. Leaders, such as the youthful head of the Bugti tribe, must also play a part. They themselves have enjoyed the benefits of education and exposure to modern thinking of all kinds. They must also, in their role as tribal chiefs, bring the same advantages to their people so that they can truly move into the 21st century and leave their past behind.
Source
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Life in our country moves along two roads – one leading towards progress and development, the other back into medieval times. We now hear that Mir Aali Bugti, the newly-elected chief of the Bugti tribe, plans to keep alive a ‘tradition’ in which people accused of crime must walk across burning coals to prove their innocence. Forty people are to be made the latest victims of this archaic practice. It is shocking that a young, educated leader should opt for such madness rather than challenging it.
The hold of tradition one lives is in many cases a damaging one. It is this realization that led to traditions such as the binding of the feet of women in China being barred. This is what progress and enlightenment is all about. Yet we see ‘honour’ killings and equally barbaric practices continue in the name of tradition. These must be ended. The government needs to play a part in doing so. The same rights, the same access to justice, the same norms of conduct must be available to all citizens in the country. It is frequently the poorest, the most vulnerable individuals who are made victims of practices such as the coal-walking trial planned in Dera Bugti. If these practices are not challenged, development and a move beyond our past will continue to elude us. Instead we will see only more acts of cruelty such as the burial alive of women that we saw last year. Leaders, such as the youthful head of the Bugti tribe, must also play a part. They themselves have enjoyed the benefits of education and exposure to modern thinking of all kinds. They must also, in their role as tribal chiefs, bring the same advantages to their people so that they can truly move into the 21st century and leave their past behind.
Source
Labels: Governance, Judiciary, Justice, Superstitions, Traditions
posted @ 9:53 AM,
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