One Way to Pakistan
Women in Pakistan have been relegated to a low order where their evidence in a court of law does not count as much as that of a male. When raped, the onus is on the woman to produce four eye witnesses; otherwise the rape victim gets the book thrown at her for committing adultery.
Schools for girls in the North West Frontier Area are being asked to close down and many have been blown up. With women covered from head to toe in burkahs, accidental exposure of an ankle in public arouses men. The police wink at honor killings. All this is in the back ground of terrorist schools proliferating and all major terrorist attacks on the USA and Europe pointing to Pakistan.
The Hudood laws discriminate against non-Muslims which makes non-Muslim women vulnerable to abduction to satiate the lust of the wealthy and powerful. Most of these men have their full quota of four wives and yet want more. One Way to Pakistan by Harold Bergsma, an American, fictionalizes in a chilling way the aspect of women being devoured into harems and kept as sex slaves.
The story is gripping and the characters come alive in their rawest form as the author is well versed with the culture, language, customs and language of the various ethic groups within Pakistan. The dialogue in the novel is peppered with Urdu words adding credibility to the plot. The characters are caught up and brutally ground and pulverized as they try to survive the maelstrom of daily terrorist threats and the clash between imperialism and fundamentalism.
Harold Bergsma was born in India and studied in Woodstock school, Mussoorie. He worked in the North West Fontier Area (details).
Even for those in neighboring countries like India, the novel is educative of what is happening in Pakistan. For Westerners it will be a revelation. For women visiting Pakistan for the first time, it is more than a must read – they are warned to read it.
Schools for girls in the North West Frontier Area are being asked to close down and many have been blown up. With women covered from head to toe in burkahs, accidental exposure of an ankle in public arouses men. The police wink at honor killings. All this is in the back ground of terrorist schools proliferating and all major terrorist attacks on the USA and Europe pointing to Pakistan.
The Hudood laws discriminate against non-Muslims which makes non-Muslim women vulnerable to abduction to satiate the lust of the wealthy and powerful. Most of these men have their full quota of four wives and yet want more. One Way to Pakistan by Harold Bergsma, an American, fictionalizes in a chilling way the aspect of women being devoured into harems and kept as sex slaves.
The story is gripping and the characters come alive in their rawest form as the author is well versed with the culture, language, customs and language of the various ethic groups within Pakistan. The dialogue in the novel is peppered with Urdu words adding credibility to the plot. The characters are caught up and brutally ground and pulverized as they try to survive the maelstrom of daily terrorist threats and the clash between imperialism and fundamentalism.
Harold Bergsma was born in India and studied in Woodstock school, Mussoorie. He worked in the North West Fontier Area (details).
Even for those in neighboring countries like India, the novel is educative of what is happening in Pakistan. For Westerners it will be a revelation. For women visiting Pakistan for the first time, it is more than a must read – they are warned to read it.
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