400 residents of Basti Ahmed DeenA small Pakistani village, surrounded by flood waters after torrential monsoon rains, is facing starvation and disease. But he has refused the pleas to vacate. Going to a relief camp would mean that the women of the village mingle with the men outside their family, and this would take away their “honour”.
The women of Basti Ahmad Din get nothing. “It is for the village elders to decide,” said Shirin Bibi17. Devastating monsoon rains have left vast areas of Pakistan Under water this summer. In Basti Ahmed Din of Punjab province, more than half of the 90 houses have been destroyed.
Cotton crops are rotting in flooded fields, and the dirt road once connected to the nearest town is under 10 feet of water.
Families have a worryingly small amount of food left, and have decided to pool and ration whatever wheat and grain they have left over after the rains.
Several volunteers requested residents to leave for safety, to no avail. “We are Baloch. Baloch Do not allow your women to go out,” said the resident Muhammad Amiri, “The Baloch would rather starve and do so than let their families go out. ,
In many parts of Pakistan, women live under a strict system of so-called honor. Women may also be struck down for bringing “shame” by interacting with men or by marrying someone they choose instead of their family. And in the event of a disaster like the floods in Pakistan, this code can completely cut off women and girls from basic needs like food and medical care.
Village elders – all men – say it is acceptable for only women to leave in “emergency” situations, such as in poor health. Natural disasters don’t count, and an elder is named Murid Hussain He said they were not evacuated during the last devastating flood in 2010.
The women of Basti Ahmad Din get nothing. “It is for the village elders to decide,” said Shirin Bibi17. Devastating monsoon rains have left vast areas of Pakistan Under water this summer. In Basti Ahmed Din of Punjab province, more than half of the 90 houses have been destroyed.
Cotton crops are rotting in flooded fields, and the dirt road once connected to the nearest town is under 10 feet of water.
Families have a worryingly small amount of food left, and have decided to pool and ration whatever wheat and grain they have left over after the rains.
Several volunteers requested residents to leave for safety, to no avail. “We are Baloch. Baloch Do not allow your women to go out,” said the resident Muhammad Amiri, “The Baloch would rather starve and do so than let their families go out. ,
In many parts of Pakistan, women live under a strict system of so-called honor. Women may also be struck down for bringing “shame” by interacting with men or by marrying someone they choose instead of their family. And in the event of a disaster like the floods in Pakistan, this code can completely cut off women and girls from basic needs like food and medical care.
Village elders – all men – say it is acceptable for only women to leave in “emergency” situations, such as in poor health. Natural disasters don’t count, and an elder is named Murid Hussain He said they were not evacuated during the last devastating flood in 2010.