It?s not quite official (yet), but all indications point to the fact that people generally, not just in Absurdistan and its environs ? including women themselves ? don?t consider women to be quite human. It?s not all about public space, it?s also about power. This women?s rights business, that is.

The ultimate violation, next to actually taking a life, is rape. And this weapon continues to be routinely used even in contemporary times. It is used in conflict situations to subjugate the ?enemy? by raping their women, dishonouring and humiliating not just the woman but the nation that ?owns? her. Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya, Rwanda and Burma are just a few examples that come to mind. Ancient history is full of many more, ranging from Japan and China, to the partition of the Indian sub-continent and Vietnam.

Rape is also often considered a fair weapon to settle scores with your local enemy. Mukhtaran Mai?s case has hit the headlines the world over, but she?s not the first woman to be raped in retaliation for a transgression by a male member of her family. From Nawabpur in 1984, such incidents continue to take place in that area.

From country to community to family... we come to the tricky issue of incest, which is far more common than most people are willing to acknowledge. At a para-legal training session for women in Lahore a few years ago, the discussion turned to how even homes are not safe for young children. Several of the women present knew of cases where children and young girls had been sexually abused. Organizations dealing with such cases often find that the victim is told to keep quiet, with even mothers refusing to support young daughters in this situation, particularly if the abuser is the girl?s own father or step-father.

Break the silence

A case that recently hit the headlines in India involves a man who allegedly raped his daughter-in-law. Imrana, the 28-year-old mother of five, left her husband?s house and returned to her brother after the incident. The local panchayat ?decreed? that Imrana should marry her rapist and henceforth treat her husband, the father of her children, as her ?son?. The case went to the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, which declared that since he was her husband?s blood relation, her marriage stood dissolved. The next day, Deoband clerics added a fresh twist by decreeing that she could not live either with the rapist or her husband.

Where does this logic come from that a woman who has been raped should marry her rapist?

On the other extreme is the view that a woman who has been raped, or whose honour has been violated, has no reason to exist ? more important, the family or community cannot tolerate her existence. According to this world view, a woman suspected of sexual relations outside marriage has no right to be alive either.

In some cases, even marriage against the family?s wishes is considered transgression enough to justify murder. We have plenty of such cases at hand in Pakistan and it?s of little consolation that the pattern is repeated in other places. A recent report in The Guardian talked about the rise in ?honour killings? in Palestine, starting with the story of a young Christian girl whose father killed her because she wanted to marry a Muslim. Indian newspapers and women?s rights organizations have often taken up the cases of Hindu women being killed or mutilated for similar transgressions.

What all these stories underline is the widespread concept that women are the property of a nation, a community, a family... not quite human. It is this archaic concept that is undermined when they stand up and assert their humanity, their rights as individual citizens or members of a community or family ? as Mukhtaran Mai is doing. That is why it is so important to break the silence.