On 15 June, 14 female students were murdered and more critically injured when their bus was blown up by a suicide bomber in western Pakistan. The hospital in which the survivors were treated was then attacked. This atrocity came just a day after an attack on the last resting place of Pakistan’s founder. In this blog, Talat Pasha writes about her despair at these events and calls for women around the world to take action to support the girls and women of Pakistan. Talat is Assistant Programme Director for Economic Empowerment for the SIGBI Federation and a Past-President of SI Karachi Central (Pakistan).
The recent events in Pakistan have been such , that I need to share my pain, sorrow, depression and disgust with you all, my Soroptimist sisters. I want to tell you about the life we lead here and the sort of violence and depressing events we deal with every day.
You must have all heard about the suicide bombing in a bus carrying female university students in Quetta on 15th June 2013. A day before that horrifying day, a very depressing and disturbing event took place in a town close to Quetta. The last resting place of the founder of our Country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was attacked with rockets and now only ashes and rubble remain of that beautiful Residency which was made of wood and stood serene and beautiful in a magically beautiful place called Ziarat. The Jinnah Residency was revered by Pakistanis as a symbol of respect and love as it was here that the father of the nation lived in his last days. The flag of Pakistan atop the building was replaced by a flag of the terrorists organization. As the news spread Pakistanis all over the world were outraged and angry.
Within the next few hours we heard about the suicide bombing of the female students. The bus carrying young female students was blown up by a suicide bomber. The injured students were rushed to the Bolan Medical Hospital which is the biggest hospital in Quetta. The Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of Quetta arrived in the Hospital to reassure the students and their parents and to oversee the medical care being provided to them. That was when the casualty department of Bolan medical hospital was attacked with rockets and about six suicide bombers took the Doctors and nurses as hostages.
One cannot imagine the trauma faced by the university students! First the bombing, death of their friends, injuries by the bombing, rocket attacks and then being taken hostage when they needed desperate medical attention. The Commissioner of Quetta died in this attack and his Deputy was injured critically. Many policemen also died and the hospital was finally rid of the terrorists after a gun battle that lasted about 6-7 hours.
The 15th of June 2013 will remain etched in my mind as a day of horror, panic and shock. The attacks were on the ideology of Pakistan, on the love and respect we have for our founder, on the independence of mind and spirits of our young female students and on the courage of those parents who defy cultural norms to send their daughters to school and college.
I wanted to share this with you just so that you can understand the difficulties women face in our part of the world. It is not easy to be born a girl here, it is not easy to get an education and it is very, very difficult to be a female and have an independent spirit and a broad out- look on life without any religious or cultural bias. But, our strength is YOU! The women of the world!
Those of you who live in security: wake up and get out of your safe havens , understand what your sisters are going through and work towards a better tomorrow for them. United we can overcome the obstacles. Years ago, western women came out and asked for the right to vote and the world had to listen. Now, again you have to speak out against the atrocities and the violence. Together we must speak out against these atrocities! They MUST end!
Image: Talat Pasha at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW57), March 2013
This article originally appeared in SIGBI Programme Action Magazine July 2013
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