Pakistani women buried alive 'for choosing husbands'

[emad]

Source: telegraph

A Pakistani politician has defended a decision to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands.
01 September 2008

Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told a stunned parliament that northwestern tribesman had done nothing wrong in first shooting the women and then dumping them in a ditch.

"These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them," he said.

"Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."

The women, three of whom were teenagers and whose "crime" was that they wished to choose who to marry, were still breathing as mud and stones were shovelled over their bodies, according to Human Rights Watch.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2660881/Pakistani-women-buried-alive-for-choosing-husbands.html

[slackmaster]

1. Are we supposed to write this story off because of the source?

Or is there some way we can blame it on George W. Bush?

[emad]

3. Source: widely reported elsewhere, just the first link on the search

engine choice today...

[slackmaster]

5. Thanks

Normally citing the Telegraph elicits a near-violent response from critics of the UK media.

[emad]

6. Daily Mail far worse, IMO, although Telegraph editorial and political

coverage scapes the bottom of the proverbial barrel...

[Dutch]

22. The post-Conrad Black Telegraph is generally a pretty good paper.

Obnoxious editorial positions, but for my money the reporting is generally better than that in the Times or the Guardian.

[ohio2007]

7. You write it off because it isn't LBN.

story is 48 hrs old, first reported on August 30th in the NYTimes

lock or delete the thread as real womens issues are being fought in repressive amerikka.




http://www.codepink4peace.org



http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=118



/sarc

[WillParkinson]

10. So you're saying....

These weren't "real" women? Or their issues don't matter? How noble of you.

[ohio2007]

12. sarcasm for those who prefer to ignore the obvious irony

http://www.geo.tv/8-31-2008/23858.htm

appeasement works

for awhile don't you agree ?

:sarcasm:

[LeftishBrit]

34. No. It's in the Guardian and the Independent and various other places

And even the Torygraph often gets basic news correct.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. There are simply no words to express

the repulsion and horror I feel for acts like this. Makes me ashamed to be the same species as this vile person.

[Honeycombe8]

4. Those are some weird-ass evil people over there. I shudder to think...

what my life as a woman would've been like if I'd been born there instead of here.

[stillcool]

8. There are some weird ass..

people here too. And they're getting more power every day.

[Honeycombe8]

15. Not like over there. nt

[stillcool]

16. give them time...

[ohio2007]

19. Are you saying if we pretend they do not exist

or appease them
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\08\30\story_30-8-2008_pg7_18

they will be a force to be reckoned with ?

send them money and they will leave us alone for awhile

[Greg K]

9. gotta love the irony of the DU Adbot..

inserting ads for "singlemuslim.com" into this thread.

What a fucked-up country.

[D23MIURG23]

11. Horrible. Utterly Dispicable.

[bronxiteforever]

13. Heard this on NPR-Monsters and bullies walk the earth

may those women and teenagers Rest in Peace

[MannyGoldstein]

14. When Religion Guides Politics

This is the result.

So awful.

We need to stop the religious nuts in our own country, lest this soon happen to those who believe in evolution.

[NorthCarolina]

18. What percentage of Fundies here in the US would condone similar treatment

for the LGBT community, or the black community?

[cali]

27. fantasizing about tyrannical control is not the same thing as exercising it.

[NorthCarolina]

28. Not so sure about that

Gay Bashing, for instance, is quite real and often carries deadly results.

[cali]

29. poor comparison. targeting a person because they're gay is a hate crime

and a regular crime of assault. it is not condoned or supported by any person in elective office that I know of- though I'm sure you can find a nut or two. It's awful and it's a crime, but it isn't the same thing- not even close- as a culture where the type of crime described in the OP is defended and in which the perpetrators go free.

[INDIA]

32. Could you stop with that lame talking point. Mulim fundies are 100 times crazier than ours. Period

nt

[leftynyc]

38. Amen

The "cultural relativists" make me sorry to be part of this board at times.

[onager]

17. Try the Napier Solution...

Sir Charles James Napier was the British commander-in-chief in India during the 1840's. Among his many other sterling qualities, he was rumored to be an atheist. (Like me.)

Napier was most famous for conquering Sindh province, in modern Pakistan.

One of Napier's first acts was banning the practice of sati (or suttee), in which widows were burned alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

This outraged the local Hindu religious leaders, who complained that sati was an integral part of their religion and an old established custom.

Napier replied: "You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them.

Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Napier

(Now I can't wait to hear from the sati enthusiasts, who will tell me exactly why it was terrible for the West to impose its ways on the beautiful ancient religious practice of burning women. The post will probably be accompanied by photos of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.)

[2Design]

20. bush supports pakistan and bid laden - so it is his friends n/t

[Lorien]

23. It's that sort of despicable behavior that should bring on the sanctions

at the very least, imho.

[slackmaster]

24. I knew someone could do it

:nuke:

[Dutch]

21. What a sick bastard.

The aparent connections to government officials in this are incredibly disturbing, not to mention depressing.

[Baby Snooks]

25. But Pakistan is our ally..

And our allies never commit such atrocities. Just ask the president. The sad reality is the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein created secular states where such atrocities were not allowed. This president and his father, and Bill Clinton, decided it was "worth it" to plunge both Iran and now Iraq into the Dark Ages of Islam in order to control the oil. And "worth it" to ensure Afghanistan and Pakistan would remain in the Dark Ages of Islam in order to eventually build a pipeline to transport all the oil and gas to India and Israel and bypass the Persian Gulf. They wanted the pipeline as well. Which is really what happened to Enron. Enron was to build the pipeline.

And the Bush regime of course allowed Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons. Encouraged it some would say. Sponsored it others would say. They might as well have just given Osama bin Laden a nuclear weapon. Eventually he will obtain one. In Pakistan. And he will manage to set it off in Israel. And then Iran will be blamed. And off to nuclear war we will go. Unless of course the Bush regime manages to engage Russia and Russia engages us with a nuclear strike.

And as the world begins to burn along with Rome, the Empress will defend the Emperor and tell one and all that impeachment is off the table.

[samsingh]

26. truly disgusting and sadly a tip of the iceburg on the atrocities that

are committed against innocent women.

[JerseygirlCT]

30. Oh dear God. And what are we doing about this?

I'm disgusted beyond words that we'd have anything to do with regimes that seem to think it's ok to perpetuate violence against women - especially to this shocking degree.

Pakistan needs to make a decision: join the civilized world or the Taliban. Can't have it both ways.

[Odin2005]

31. Bunch of sick, disgusting barbarians.

:puke:

[and-justice-for-all]

33. "These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them,"

I do not give a flying fuck how old this shit is, ITS WRONG! It is the 21st fucking century Israr Ullah Zehri, you asshole.

"Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." just how is choosing their own husbands IMMORAL?! what a bunch of religious fucking nonsense. Take your barbaric religious bullshit and shove it up your ass!

[SharonAnn]

37. It's immoral to shoot women and/or bury them alive.

[LeftishBrit]

35. Evil. And Zehri is a reactionary monster.

www.stophonorkillings.com

www.hrw.org/women/links.html

[Rage for Order]

36. This story brings to mind...

All those who claim that no culture is superior (or inferior) to another. I beg to differ. These people are savages, plain and simple.