Page 12 - aruba-today-20161231

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 31 december 2016
Underage girls trapped in Pakistan bride exchanges

KATHY GANNON Sabeel, says she agreed
Associated Press to marry Ahmed because
JAMPUR, Pakistan (AP) — of her brother. She wanted
Mohammad Ramzan can him to have a wife.
neither hear nor speak, “No one had been willing
and he has a childlike to give their daughters to
mind. But he knew his wife, my brother,” she says.
Saima, was too young Ramzan is quick to extend
when she was given to him his hand to guests who en-
as a bride. ter through the torn and
The 36-year-old Ramzan tattered curtain that hangs
smiles, eager to please, as over the front door to his
he uses his fingers to count compound, tucked away
out her age when they in a narrow alley lined with
married. One, two, three . . open sewers.
. until 13, and then he stops Ramzan’s elderly parents
and looks at her, points live with him. His father
and nods several times. rarely leaves his bed, say-
The girl’s father, Wazir ing he has trouble walking.
Ahmed, says she was 14, His mother begs from morn-
not 13, but her age was ing until night, sometimes
beside the point. It mat- knocking on doors, other
tered only that she had times parking herself in the
reached puberty when he In this Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016 photo, Saima, who was married to a 36 year-old man in her early middle of a dusty road, her
teens, sits in her home in Jampur, Pakistan.
arranged her marriage as Associated Press hand outstretched for do-
an exchange: his daughter nations.
Ahmed sits inside the mud- Like Ramzan, she can nei-
walled compound where alone for fear of unwanted ther hear nor speak. Both
sexual activity — or worse,
he lives now with his two her hips and one knee
wives. Outside, stray dogs the daughter leaves home have been broken. She
with a boy of her choice.
roam in packs of three and gestures as if breaking a
four. They bite, Ahmed “That would be a shame twig to explain her trou-
for us. We would have
warns. bled knee.
He says that the fact that no honor. No. When they Ramzan looks at Saima,
reach puberty quickly, we
Ramzan is nearly three her hair hidden beneath a
times his daughter’s age have to marry them,” she sweeping shawl, her large
says. “Daughters are a bur-
is irrelevant. But the legal brown eyes downcast.
marrying age here is 16, den, but the sons, they are “I didn’t want to marry
the owners of the house.”
and in a rare move, po- her so young. I said at the
lice did investigate Saima’s She says she accepted time, ‘She is too young,’
her husband’s marriage
marriage after they re- but everyone said I must,”
In this Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2016 photo, Mohammad Ramzan ceived a complaint, possi-
shows his marriage contract with his young bride Saima in Jam- bly from a relative involved
pur, Pakistan.
Associated Press in a dispute with her father.
Ramzan and Ahmed were
for Ramzan’s sister, whom A girl may be given away jailed for a few days, but
he wanted to take as a to pay a debt or settle a Saima testified in court that
second wife. dispute between feuding she was 16 and they were
His first wife, Saima’s moth- families. She might be mar- released. She says she told
er, had given him only ried to a cousin to keep her the authorities she was 16
daughters, and he hoped dowry in the family or, as in to protect her father and
his second wife would this case, married for the husband.
give him a son. But Sabeel prospect of a male heir. In Saima’s world of crush-
wouldn’t marry him until Many believe that their ing poverty, where centu-
her brother had a wife to Islamic religion instructs ries-old tribal traditions mix
care for him. fathers to marry off their with religious beliefs, a crip-
She would be a bride in ex- daughters at puberty. pling cycle traps even the
change for a bride. “If it is not done, our society perpetrators with a life’s In this Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016 photo, Wazir Ahmed, right,
“We gave a girl in this fam- thinks parents have not ful- burden: a father who longs who married his underage daughter to a 36 year-old man, sits
with his wives in Jampur, Pakistan.
ily for a girl in their family,” filled their religious obliga- for a son to help support Associated Press
Ahmed says. “That is our tion,” says Faisal Tangwani, his family; a wife who must
right.” regional coordinator for provide that son; a daugh-
In deeply conservative re- the independent Human ter who must become a to another woman; after he says through a series
gions such as this one in Rights Commission of Paki- mother even when she is all, it’s her fault he only has of gestures interpreted by
the south of Punjab prov- stan in nearby Multan. still a child. daughters. those around him. He held
ince, the tribal practice of Ahmed sees the hand of Saima’s mother, Janaat, “I feel shame that I don’t his hand up just below his
exchanging girls between God in his daughter’s mar- agrees with marrying off have a son. I myself al- chest, showing how tall she
families is so entrenched, it riage to a disabled man. her daughters early. She lowed my husband to get was when they married.
even has its own name in “It was by God’s will that says girls are a headache a second wife,” she says. Saima doesn’t talk much.
Urdu: Watta Satta, which he was chosen,” he says. after they reach puberty. Her husband’s new wife, Her answers are short, and
means give and take. “It was her fate.” They can’t be left at home matter-of-fact.