Pakistan. From the series "The World Through Our Eyes". Gynecologist: Pakistani women claim that they get pregnant from stones Pakistani girls

DUSHANBE, July 23 – Sputnik. What are the popular rumors about Pakistan on social media? Firstly, every woman who looks at a man too boldly can be stoned to death. Without trial, on the street. Secondly, due to constant terrorist attacks, living there is like playing football every day in a minefield.

A doctor from Bishkek, Olga Raschupaikina, told Sputnik Kyrgyzstan that many things are stereotypes, and a woman in Pakistan will not be burned alive just because she went out into the street without a man, although in this case she will become the object of mass condemnation.

— Why Pakistan?

“I went there after my husband, like the wife of a Decembrist.” We met our future husband in Bishkek, and a month later we got married. Following him, I studied to be a doctor.
Then we went to Pakistan together and began to live in a distant mountain village. Of course, I was afraid of going there, but it turned out that the devil is not as scary as he is painted.

— There you had to wear closed clothes, right?

— Yes, all the women in this village wore either a burqa or a headscarf that completely covered their faces. However, I did not convert to Islam and remained true to my beliefs. In general, our marriage was a curiosity for other Pakistanis. Marriage for love can only take place in two cases: when a man brings his wife from abroad or when young relatives fall in love with each other and persuade their parents to marry them.

- What do you mean, brother marries sister? Are marriages between relatives considered normal there?

— A girl, in principle, does not have the opportunity to meet somewhere with a man who does not belong to her family. Yes, brothers and sisters. In Pakistan, they may well outmarry their children: 9 out of 10 marriages are between relatives. This is convenient, because in this way the entire land plot remains the property of one family, which is very important for local residents.

Typically, men get married around the age of thirty, and girls are married before they reach their twenties. Most brides are 15-18 years old.

— During the seven years of your life in Pakistan, you adopted 8 thousand babies. I can imagine how many pathologies we have seen under such and such traditions...

— Yes, consanguineous marriages have a bad effect on the health of the offspring. Anencephals (babies without a skull), babies with hernias, and midgets are often born. Many children are born with mental disorders, schizophrenia.

By the way, in Pakistan there is a “prohibition” law - there is no alcohol at all. However, men use anasha and marijuana, which also affects the health of unborn children. They are not even considered drugs.

— What about domestic violence in the family?

— There is practically no such thing there. Husbands don't beat their wives, they're just not interested. But mothers-in-law are not at all kind to their daughters-in-law.

I will never forget one case: a beautiful woman of about thirty was brought to me, she had ear cancer, and at the same time she became pregnant... By the way, cancer is treated well in Pakistan. The mother of one influential and very rich man died of cancer, and he built cancer hospitals in many cities where people are provided with free care.

That woman was also treated, but the medications were “incompatible” with pregnancy. Doctors refused to continue the course until she had an abortion. By that time, the Pakistani woman already had three children, and the pregnancy was short - the second month; it was easy to terminate it. However, the mother-in-law said: “She must give birth! Nothing will happen to her!”

When the patient was brought to me the second time, I did not recognize her: the tumor had disfigured her face. She was so weak that I forced the relatives to write a receipt: they say that we have no claims in the event of the death of the mother and child. The boy lived only a few hours, turned yellow and died - cancer drugs destroyed his liver. The fact is that the mother received medication for some time, lying to the doctors that she had an abortion.

A couple of months later she was brought back again. I told my relatives: “Get ready.” I will not forget the face of her mother-in-law when she told me: “You see, she lies around all day, and I, a sick woman, have to work.” I couldn’t stand it and asked her to leave the office. Seven days later the patient died.

— Do Pakistani women often come to have an abortion?

- It happened. Moreover, all pregnant unmarried women have the same story: they allegedly walked through the forest, wanted to go to the toilet, used pebbles instead of toilet paper and became pregnant. I laughed and asked them to show me this clearing with magic stones, otherwise so many of my patients cannot conceive!

- So what, a girl can be stoned for having an illegitimate child?

- No, Pakistanis are not monsters. Parents, as everywhere else, love their daughters, especially mothers. They often came to me and begged me to secretly give my daughters an abortion. Although there were cases when a strict father could shoot his daughter because she disgraced the family. Girls are afraid of condemnation, some take their own lives. Intimacy before marriage is not recognized there at all. Even the bride and groom cannot afford this, because in this case the engagement is broken and the guy has to run away so that the bride's relatives do not kill him.

- Isn’t there justice there?

“They are allowed to freely carry weapons, and such showdowns are a common occurrence. If the parties agree not to bring the case to trial, then the killer will not face anything. Everyone there also has friends and relatives in the law enforcement or judicial system.

— How were the living conditions in your village?

- There are no water pipes there. The pipes are drawn from the spring, and the water is not treated in any way. It's cold there in winter, so houses are heated with stoves. There is also no sewerage.

Almost throughout the country, electricity is supplied only a few hours a day. We were lucky - there were many rivers nearby, and our house was powered by a small power plant, so there were practically no interruptions.

- What about food?

- It's quite normal. For breakfast, people fry eggs and tortillas. In general, Pakistanis prefer fried food with a lot of oil and spices.

Salaries there are low and there is very little work. People go to work in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They work as laborers, send money to their families, and visit their relatives once every 2-3 years.

The military is in a special position. They have high salaries, they are a separate caste. Doctors, teachers and engineers also make good money. Doctors earn about $500 or more, teachers — about $250.

— What are the restrictions for women?

In general, women in Pakistan age quickly; by the age of thirty they look forty-five. By this time they already have 7-8 children, and they can even become grandmothers. And they work a lot too.

Although the sign “gynecologist” hung on the door of my office, ladies came to me with a variety of problems. One day an elderly woman came and took off the scarf from her head - and I was horrified: on the back of her head there was no piece of skull the size of a palm. There the brain throbbed and festered.

It turned out that she had been scalded with boiling water when she was a child. No one treated the burn; it progressed. The woman got married, gave birth to children... And in the end, the wound “ate” even the bones of the skull. Ideally, she could have used the help of a plastic surgeon, but she did not have the money. I prescribed her strong antibiotics, but two years later this woman died. You see, the problem is that in her youth she did not have time to take care of her health...

— Why did you decide to return?

“I asked my husband to move for a long time. He is a good person, but still a citizen of his country. My husband simply couldn’t understand what didn’t suit me, and I couldn’t accept Pakistan as my second homeland.

I came to Bishkek to give birth to twins. Looking at my girls, I clearly realized that I would not go back. I am a foreigner, and also a respected doctor - I have privileges, but my daughters will not have any concessions... Although sometimes I still miss Pakistan.

— Why did you stop delivering babies here and start treating people for tuberculosis?

“I wanted to completely change my life. Now tuberculosis in Kyrgyzstan is at epidemic level, there are a lot of patients.

- It is believed that this is a social disease: if the immune system is in order and the nutrition is good, there is nothing to be afraid of.

- Not true! What about stress? Isn't that the reason? Busy work and constant lack of sleep also lead to a decrease in immunity - and here you have tuberculosis. It doesn't matter what foods you eat. You can become infected at a wedding, on a minibus, at a clinic, at a round table...

— Now my inner hypochondriac is in a panic. How to understand that a person has tuberculosis?

— If the cough lasts more than two weeks, the person sweats at night, feels weak, and the temperature is constantly raised by half a degree. But if the body is strong, then the disease can be asymptomatic. In general, there is one simple piece of advice: get fluorography.

Saira Liaquat does makeup for a client. The girl is grateful that the rehabilitation center entrusted her with the work of a cosmetologist, but she is worried that her poor eyesight may let her down. I’ve been thinking for a long time... whether or not to post this material, but lately there have been a lot of similar posts on blogs and I made up my mind. But still, another impetus was the book that I started reading the other day, Suad, “Burn Alive”. She was burned for what she loved. A young girl from a small Palestinian village, Suad, fell in love with her neighbor and became pregnant by him. It was a terrible sin, for which she was burned by her own family. But the girl was saved by an employee of a humanitarian organization. Suad was cured and taken to Europe. Several years ago, Suad’s book “Burn Alive” became a pan-European bestseller, and was also published in Russia by the Ripol Classic publishing house and very soon entered the bestseller lists of the Book Review newspaper. This is a post about girls and women living in Pakistan who suffered because of their beauty and rebellion. God forbid this to anyone! Saira Liaquat, 26, holds a photo of herself at 16 years old. At the age of 15, she married her relative, who subsequently mutilated her for refusing to live with him. To try to get rid of the scars, Saira underwent 9 surgeries. Now she works as a cosmetologist at a rehabilitation center for women who suffered from burns. Shanaz, 32, a resident of the Pakistani city of Jhelum, was doused with acid 19 years ago by her relatives. Her parents refused to give their daughter in marriage to a guy from their own family. Shanaz underwent 8 plastic surgeries. 16-year-old Najaf Sultana was set on fire at the age of 5 by her own father while sleeping. He just didn't want another girl in his family. As a result of the arson, the girl became blind, and her parents abandoned her. Now she lives with her relatives. Najaf has undergone 15 plastic surgeries. Urouj Akbar, 28, gets her nails done at a rehabilitation center in Pakistan. About three years ago, an angry husband doused the girl with kerosene while she was sleeping and set her on fire. Uruzh spends the money she earns from her work to support her daughter, whom she hardly sees after the incident. 16-year-old Atiya Khalil was doused with acid by relatives of a neighbor's boyfriend three years ago after the girl did not want to become his wife. Atiya has gone under the surgeon’s knife three times already. 30-year-old Islamabad resident Irum Saeed was injured 12 years ago by a guy she did not want to marry. O splashed her face, shoulders and back right in the middle of the street. The girl underwent 25 plastic surgeries. Sabira Sultana, 30, applies makeup at her home in Jhelum, Pakistan. A pregnant woman was doused with gasoline and set on fire by her husband because her parents did not give enough dowry for their daughter. Sabira has undergone 20 plastic surgeries. Shamim Akhter, 18, poses for a photograph at her home in Jhang, Pakistan. Three years ago, three guys raped her and then threw acid on her. She underwent 10 surgeries in an attempt to regain her former appearance.

Maria Mogol, 42of the year,

Fitness Instructor, Hyderabad, Pakistan

“I was philosophical about the need to wear a headscarf on the street: astronauts on the Moon wear a spacesuit...”

“My Planet” asks questions to Russian-speaking residents of different countries of the world. In this material, Maria from St. Petersburg tells how she managed to retrain from an accountant to a fitness instructor and how life works in Pakistan.

We came to Pakistan in 2010, “try to live” in my husband’s homeland. Our daughters were already school age, 9 and 6 years old, and we were both unsure whether they would be able to adapt to the new environment.

Education here is conducted in English and Urdu. And later I had to learn Arabic and Sindhi, the language of the province in which we live.

The winters here are very warm. Hyderabad is located in the south of Pakistan, in the Sindh province, three and a half hours drive from Karachi and the Arabian Sea coast. In the winter months there is +25 °C during the day and +8-10 °C at night, and in summer the daytime temperature reaches +45-50 °C.

Pakistanis have closets literally bursting with clothes. This surprised me very much: it’s warm! But when we spent the summer here, it immediately became clear why. In the heat, you have to change three or even four suits a day, taking a shower before that, of course.

Schools start earlier in the summer from 7:30 (regular schedule: 8:00-13:00). Clerks work according to the usual schedule throughout the world. But private shops open only after two o'clock in the afternoon - however, they are open until late. We save ourselves with air conditioners and fans. Even open restaurants have these.

There is no beach holiday as such. A trip to the coast in Pakistani style (if such a miracle happens) is a villa with a swimming pool and individual access to the sea. But you can only swim with clothes on. The water in the sea is very salty, so there is little pleasure. Sunbathing is also not accepted: it is believed that the lighter the skin, the more beautiful. Standard beach activities include riding a camel along the shore and all kinds of street food: fried crabs and other seafood.

Hyderabad is not a tourist city, although it is the third largest in Pakistan and there is a lot to see here. In the old part of the city is the Shahi Bazaar (Royal Bazaar), one of the largest in Asia. And our city is famous throughout Pakistan for its bracelets made of glass.

At first everything was unusual for us: climate, architecture: one- or two-story cottage houses, narrow streets, not particularly clean. There was not enough space and greenery.

The people here are very hospitable. They love to treat, they love to visit and receive guests, and they greet them with a smile at any time of the day.

According to Islam, guests are angels in our home. When they visit us, they fill the house with light, and when they leave, they take away negative energy from the house. In Pakistan people go to visit not by invitation, but just because. And even if you unexpectedly came for a visit, and the owners were about to leave for their own business, then business will be postponed, and you will certainly be treated to tea with milk. Therefore, Pakistanis are very surprised that in Russia we so rarely meet with friends and relatives and always “invite” them to visit.

Traditionally, Pakistanis live as one big family, young people with elders. The appearance of a daughter-in-law in a family is a big event. And if she is a foreigner, this is generally exotic. All attention is on her. How will it show itself? What can he do? How will you get along with everyone? If this is the eldest daughter-in-law (the wife of the eldest brother), then how will she manage the household? Will her mother-in-law trust her with this matter? Family hierarchy in Pakistan is a very serious matter. Each family member has their own special names, which reflect seniority. The younger ones strictly obey the elders. It was the same with us, however, now we live in a European way, separately, and not in a house, but in an apartment.

Nobody wears a burqa here. In large cities, most women dress almost European-style. If a woman is without a scarf on her head and in relatively open clothes, of course, this is not particularly welcome, but there are no social prohibitions on this matter. It all depends on the traditions of a particular family.

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Pakistani women have no idea about sports. Most schools don't even have physical education classes. Boys at least play cricket, but girls don’t even have that.

But this is still a man's world. There are 90% of them on the streets. At the market or in shops, both sellers and buyers are only men. And if you need to buy underwear, then your husband goes shopping. True, recently special departments have begun to appear in supermarkets, where entry is only for women.

I was philosophical about the need to wear a headscarf on the street: Cosmonauts on the Moon wear a spacesuit... It’s impossible to get there without it. In Pakistan, too, you can’t live without a scarf on your head.

I don’t have any qualifications as a fitness instructor. In St. Petersburg for many years I went to shaping, aerobics, step, pool... That's all the training. In Pakistan, I simply went to the beauty salon closest to my home and offered my services. Somehow she explained in a crooked way that I can make fitness for women... And they told me: yes!

People come to fitness to lose weight. And urgently. It’s best if in a couple of lessons: “Help! I'm getting married in a week! Make me lose weight urgently!!!” But the majority, like myself, come more for the sake of communication, since the classes are group.

I once told my clients that I cook oatmeal for breakfast. They begged me for the recipe, and then for another six months they asked why their porridge didn’t work out.

In the sauna after fitness, all the girls are sitting in their clothes. I didn’t understand before why they were always dressed, but now, on the contrary, it seems to me that they are right. Why show your nakedness to everyone?! Recently, one client came in and was horrified: “You have naked people here!” And this was me wearing a sleeveless T-shirt...

Pakistani women have no idea about sports. Most schools don't even have physical education classes. Boys at least play cricket, but girls don’t even have that.

The school holds a sports day once a year. This is something between a carnival, a parade and fun starts. Moreover, participation in it is paid, so not everyone can even afford this sport event.

Kean Eng Chan

Our school is coeducational but boys and girls sit in different classes. True, there are several common subjects: computers or chemistry, for example. But there are also schools where boys and girls study together. Of course, everyone has a special interest in our daughters, even the teachers. They are interested in how they study in Russia, what schools are like, what fashion is.

The dream of every Pakistani parent is for their daughter to become a doctor. The teaching profession is popular. Announcers and television presenters are also often women. Many people work from home: they give culinary master classes, sew to order, open their own small “beauty salons”... They allocate one room for this and work. There are a lot of design and computer literacy courses here. Tutoring is very developed. In general, one should not think that a woman in Pakistan is such a downtrodden creature who sees nothing, knows nothing and cannot... If only there was a desire, as they say.

Pakistan is a country of contrasts. Luxury and poverty exist side by side. Someone is driving a Pajero, and nearby donkeys in a harness are transporting furniture.

The hardest thing was to accept a lifestyle without race and haste. Here women have more household chores and have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It’s not a burden for me; I love cooking.

I miss black coffee and aromatic tea. And more greenery outside the window

Nobody cares about diet here. The cuisine is the same as in India: spicy, fatty food, seasoned with sauces. But delicious! I really like pilaf biryani and chicken meatballs in white sauce. And, of course, vegetables in all their diversity. There are three types of cucumbers, two types of spinach, regular and white eggplants, and three or four types of zucchini.

If we take into account the status of women in society, Pakistan is a very heterogeneous country. On the one hand, in big cities there are many educated women who live in conditions of relative equality: they have access to public life, education and politics. Pakistan is the only state in the Muslim world where a woman, Benazir Bhutto, was the head of government for a long time. On the other hand, in most parts of the country, women cannot even leave the house without the permission of their husband or family members. Violence based on family honor kills around 1,000 women every year in Pakistan. And in the ranking of the most dangerous countries for women to live in, Pakistan ranks third. See the liberated women of Pakistan in a photo essay by Zohra Bensemra.

18 PHOTOS

1. Ansa Hasan is a female leader. She heads the marketing department of the world renowned Porsche in Pakistan. Photo: Ansa in front of the Porsche brand showroom in Lahore. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
2. Ansa Hasan, head of marketing for Porsche Pakistan, at her home. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
3. Zahra Afridi. She is an interior designer. She has her own company. And in her free time from work, she likes to play sports - kickboxing. In the photo: Zahra during training in Islamabad. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
4. Zahra Afridi’s company is working on a new project - designing Classic Rock Coffee in Islamabad. In the photo: Zahra instructs her employee, a carpenter. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
5. Interior designer Zahra not only manages, she is not afraid of physical work and does some of the decorations herself. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
6. Erum Ahmed - owns the textile company So Kamal and is also its CEO. The factory was opened 3 years ago. Erum not only hires women, but also tries to get other women interested in working for its company, something that is not common in a conservative city like Faisalabad. In the photo: Erum Ahmed discusses work issues with employees of his factory. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
7. Aleena Raza, the daughter of the owner of the So Kamal company, also works in her mother’s company. She is a manager of a textile company. In the photo: Aleena in the bedroom of her house in Lahore. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
8. Aleena Raza with her son Ryan. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
9. Fitness instructor Zainab Abbasa conducts special training for pregnant women. She studied in Bangkok. Photo: Zainab (left) during a Pilates class at her studio in Lahore. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
10. Fitness instructor Zainab Abbasa (right) in her free time. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
11. Sana Mir (center) is an engineer by profession. She graduated from the university. But her passion for sports led her to the national cricket team. Sana is now the captain of the women's team. In the photo: Sana with her friends during training before the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 tournament. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
12. Sana Mir - captain of the cricket team - during training. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
13. Climber Nazia Parveen. She hails from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Nazia wants women to be perceived differently in Pakistan's conservative society. She believes that nothing is impossible if someone really wants it. In the photo: Nazia on one of the rocks somewhere near Islamabad. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
14. Climber Nazia Parveen and her partner in the mountains near Islamabad. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
15. Treehouse Kindergarten in Islamabad, run by Naadiya Manzur. In the photo: piano lessons for children. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
16. Naadiya Manzur (center) - director of the Treehouse kindergarten - with her husband Omar and son Zidaanem at their home in Islamabad. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
17. Teacher and model Fatima (right) in her home in Lahore. Fatima is the CEO of Beaconhouse School System, a chain of private schools founded by her mother-in-law. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).
18. Fatima - model and teacher - in her home in Lahore. (Photo: ZOHRA BENSEMRA).

Recently, three Christian girls in Pakistan who rejected the advances of wealthy Muslim men were torn to pieces by them. One of the girls died.

Chairman of the British Pakistan Christian Association and human rights activist, London native Wilson Chowdhry who broke the story reported that one of the men said, "Christian girls are meant for one thing only, the sexual gratification of Muslim men."

This happened on January 13 in Lahore. Three girls, 17, 18 and 20 years old, were returning home after a hard day at work. Four Muslim men in the car began to chase and harass them. The men were rowdy, shouting "lewd and shameless comments" and trying to get the girls into the car for a "ride and some fun."

The girls declined the “invitation,” adding that they were “devout Christians and do not accept sex outside of marriage.”

This immediately changed the behavior of the guys, who became more aggressive and began to force the girls into the car, threatening to force them into the car. Frightened by the threats, the girls ran away in panic. This only inflamed the Muslim men even more, one of them shouted: “How dare you run away from us, Christian girls are meant for only one thing, for the pleasure of Muslim men.”

Muslim men chased girls, running over them with cars. The two girls fell to the ground; one had a broken hip, another had crushed ribs. The youngest of the girls, 17 years old Kiran Masih, was thrown into the air and crashed into the windshield. The Muslims, laughing, added gas, with a girl on the windshield. The driver then apparently slammed on the brakes. During a sudden stop, she flew off the car and hit the ground. With a fractured skull and broken bones, she was dead within minutes.

Twenty-year-old Pakistani Christian woman Sumble had her hip broken when Muslim men rammed her and her friends with a car. Men attacked Christian girls for refusing to have sex with them. Mumbley's friend, 17-year-old Kiran Masih, was killed in the attack (Photo sources: British Pakistan Christian Association [left]; Terrorism Investigation Project [right])

As usual, Pakistani police reportedly "made no effort to apprehend the youths and delayed the investigation." Choudhury said:

In any other country [not Pakistan], the perpetrators would have been arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to long prison terms...Violence against Christians is rarely investigated and rarely prosecuted...Women in Pakistan have an inferior status, but Christian women have become target of capture or terror, especially after this attack. The Muslim NGO Solidarity and Peace Movement points out that 700 Christian women are kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriages in Pakistan every year - that is, almost twice a day, and the world does nothing.

Similar messages - including claims that a Muslim man has the right to rape Christians and other "infidels" - common in Pakistan.

A Muslim rapist who attacked a 9-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan told her "not to worry because he had done the same service for other Christian girls."

Local residents, discussing the remark regarding the rape of a 9-year-old victim, said: “This is a shame. This happens often. Christian girls are seen as commodities that can be ruined at their leisure. Raping them is considered a right. According to the community mentality, this is not considered a crime. Muslims regard them as "spoils of war."

The Islamic concept of "spoils" is explained by one of the leading authorities in Islamic law and jurisprudence, the late Majid Khadduri in his work War and peace in Islamic law:

The term "spoils" (ghanimah) applies specifically to property seized by force from non-Muslims. This means not only property (movable and immovable), but also people, as asra (prisoners of war) or sabi (women and children)... If the slave is a woman, the master is allowed to have sexual intercourse with her as a concubine.

Even in Western countries, Muslims from Pakistan consider it their right to rape and sexually torture “infidel” women - or even Muslim women if they go unaccompanied or without a veil in the evening. Of course, a woman in a veil can be attacked, but it’s the same as with non-Muslim rapists - he wants it, that’s all. But if a Muslim woman is not at home, he can explain or justify violence as “his right” by saying that she is acting like an infidel and supposedly deserves such treatment. The author does not know of examples where a Muslim man chose a Muslim woman as an object of violence because he thought that he “had the right.”

In 2012, nine Muslim men - eight of them from Pakistan - were found guilty of child abuse and sexual exploitation in the UK. Similar to what Christians and other “infidels” are told in Pakistan before committing violence, these men regularly “told their victims that it was normal to be passed around for sex by dozens of men” because that’s what we do in our country."

Today, with the spread of Muslims in the West, what they do to “infidel” women in their adopted countries is increasingly similar to what they do to “infidel” women in the countries where they were born - as thousands of women in the world have learned. Cologne and other cities.