Baroness Cox (CB):..The first is the story of Aala—a pseudonym, of
course. She is originally from Pakistan and had an Islamic marriage
in the UK. Aala was raped, abused and financially exploited by her
husband. Her imam and her husband refused to negotiate an Islamic
divorce, claiming that the marriage had never taken place, despite
the fact that she had a video recording of the ceremony. She told
us, weeping, that she is now so ostracised by her community, both
in the UK and in Pakistan,...Request free trial
(CB):..The
first is the story of Aala—a pseudonym, of course. She is
originally from Pakistan and had an Islamic marriage in the UK.
Aala was raped, abused and financially exploited by her husband.
Her imam and her husband refused to negotiate an Islamic divorce,
claiming that the marriage had never taken place, despite the fact
that she had a video recording of the ceremony. She told us,
weeping, that she is now so ostracised by her community, both in
the UK and in Pakistan, that she feels such shame and loneliness
that she has attempted suicide. Secondly, we heard from Fozia, who
was sent under false pretences from Britain to Kashmir, where she
was threatened at gunpoint into a forced marriage. Returning to the
UK, she soon discovered that her new “husband” was entering into
another marriage to help him to stay in the UK. When Fozia went to
the police with her concern over bigamy, they told her, “We can’t
arrest him, because it’s allowed in your religion”...
(CB):...According to scholars, sharia law is
discriminatory against women in every respect. No matter what we
do, it will never provide equality. Therefore, it is our
Government’s job to make sure that women are not discriminated
against under sharia practice. Pakistan has only just passed a law
saying that honour killing is now viewed as murder. It has taken a
long time but it came about because a woman burned her
daughter. India is now trying to stop multiple
marriages, saying that everybody is entitled to marry only one
person. Strictly speaking, we do not allow multiple marriages here,
but when the Home Affairs Committee tried to tackle that, it
discovered that it would cost the Government a huge amount of money
to take care of all the so-called non-wives, because under that
system there is always a wife, a nanny, a cousin or somebody else
to look after the children...
(CB):...The power and hold of negative culture is easy to
understand when we look at the Sikh community. Guru Nanak, the
founder of the Sikh religion, was appalled by the way that women
were treated in the India of his day. He taught the dignity and
complete equality of women. The same teaching was also emphasised
by nine succeeding Gurus and is incorporated in our holy
scriptures, the Guru Granth Sahib. Women can and often do lead Sikh
services, and girls are encouraged to enter the professions. The
Sikh chaplain to the British armed services is a woman. Yet,
despite such clear teachings, some men in the community are still
clearly influenced by the more negative culture of the
sub-continent...
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