Fatwa in Pakistan, husbands can “beat lightly” wives

“Try beating me lightly: I will become the destruction that you could not predict” – Adeeqa Lalwani, digital storyteller.

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They have a smiling face and proud eyes. They wear what they want and they do the work they love: they are doctors, teachers, fashion and travel bloggers. Those portrayed by the Pakistani photographer Fahhad Rajper are independent women, with a deliberate attitude of challenge.

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Because it is precisely this challenging attitude that the “Islamic Ideology Council” (a body which supervises the pakistani government laws to prevent it violates Islamic Sharia) wants to fight, legalizing domestic violence. According to a bill introduced by the Islamic Council, the husbands should be allowed to “beat lightly” their wives for “educational” purpose.

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Whenever a woman would refuse to wear the clothes chosen by her husband, wouldn’t like to have sex with him or would decide not to take a bath after a sexual intercourse, or in case of menstruation, then her husband could “beat her lightly.”

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The text of the bill, in part reported by the Washington Post, would encourage men to use violence even in cases where the woman interacts with strangers, speaks loudly, decides to help economically a stranger without first asking permission to her husband.

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“Anyone sane enough would never do anything like that,” said Fahhad Rajper. Photographer based in Karachi, Fahhad is 22 years old and decided to oppose the proposal of the Islamic Council precisely with the voice and the faces of women, launching on social networks the #TryBeatingMeLightly campaign.

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Twelve portraits of Pakistani women in black and white, accompanied by biting remarks of the protagonists, like that of Sadiya Azhar: “Beat me with your intelligence, if you can. Beat me with your spirit. Beat me with your smile. Beat me with your kindness. But if you dare to hit me even with a feather, I will be forced to react.”

Thanks to the article to: Repubblica.it