Tuesday, February 22, 2005

More on Dr Shazia

No law, no protection in Pakistan: Dr Shazia

* Says PPL officials drugged her to cover up the case
* Says issue being politicised


KARACHI: Dr Shazia, the Sui rape victim, said on Monday there was neither law nor protection in Pakistan.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper of the UK, Dr Shazia said, “We are very scared. In Pakistan, there is no law, no protection, nothing. Who can we trust? Nobody.” Visitors are not welcome at her house in Karachi, not even with an invitation. A police team is posted at the gate and Rangers prowl the grounds inside.

“You need the permission from the bosses at the top,” says a moustached officer firmly. “The very top.” She has good reason to worry. Until six weeks ago, the 31-year-old was a company doctor at the Sui gas plant, at the farthest reaches of Balochistan. On January 3, she was raped in her bed.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the rape, Dr Shazia told the British newspaper that officials from Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), which runs the plant, at first drugged her to cover up the case.

“Before the police came to take a statement, the (company’s) chief medical officer said: ‘Don’t give them any information.’ Then they injected me with a tranquilliser that made me drowsy,” she said.

At the time, PPL officials said Dr Shazia was unable to file a statement because she was unconscious. Despite her injuries, Dr Shazia was offered no medical treatment by PPL and she had no contact with her family for two days. Then the company flew her to Karachi and checked her into a private psychiatric hospital.

Three PPL doctors have since been arrested on charges of obstructing justice. But despite weeks of police investigation, Dr Shazia’s rapist remains at large.

She said she did not know his identity. “He tied my hands with a telephone wire and blindfolded me with a dupatta [scarf]. But I could feel that he had a moustache and curly hair. And I know his voice.”

Early this week, President Musharraf’s spokesman said an army captain was “under investigation” but had not been arrested. Meanwhile, Balochistan police have re-interviewed Dr Shazia – this time insinuating she was engaged in prostitution, The Guardian report says.

“They asked me where I got the Rs 25,000 that was stolen and when I wore my jewellery. And they said that a cleaner had found used condoms in my room,” she said.

Since then police have announced that DNA tests on the main suspect did not match that found at the scene, heightening fears of a cover-up. Weeks ago, the grandfather of Dr Shazia’s husband said the rape had rendered her kari – a disgrace to family honour – and so she must be divorced, and preferably killed. Such “honour killings” remain common in rural Pakistan.

But her husband, a pipeline engineer, says he is standing by his wife. His grandfather, he said, “is just a bad man, and this has made my wife even more scared. She can’t sleep at night, so I sit by her bed to take care of her”.

For human rights campaigners, the kari rubs salt in the wound of a case combining politics, violence and regressive traditions.

“In this country a woman has no status,” said Shershah Syed, of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA). “She is an object, like a cow or a bucket.” Having lost their jobs and fearing for their lives, the couple want to leave Pakistan.

“They are politicising this issue, the whole country, everyone,” Dr Shazia said through tears before hanging up. “How can I face anyone any more? We have to get out.”

Only a handful of family visitors may enter the house where Dr Shazia and her husband are living. A senior police officer said, “You have to understand that in this matter we answer to the president.” sana