HISTORY PROJECT

WOMEN AND EDUCATION

The book a case of exploding mangoes, by Muhammad Hanif, is set in the late 1980s,
when the United States were fighting a proxy war against the communist threat of
Russia in Afghanistan and when general Zia was the president of Pakistan. At that time
The United States had pledged military assistance to Pakistan following Soviet
intervention in Afghanistan.

On 17 of august 1988, after general Zia observed a tank demonstration in Punjab he

embarked on a C-130 Hercules”Pak one” to fly to Islamabad. He was accompanied by a
group of army generals as well as the American ambassador, Arnold Raphael.
Sometime after takeoff, the plane began to move inconsistently and soon it crashed,
killing all of those who were on board. The case of exploding mangoes explores the
scenarios and the conspiracies surrounding Zia’s death. The main character is Ali
Shigri, a trainee pilot whose father died in an apparent suicide. He sets out to find out
his father’s killer since he believes that his father’s death was caused by someone and
he forms an assassination plot which involves Bannon and Obaid,Ali’s best friend.Shigri
is eventually imprisoned in the Lahore fort for interrogation as to why his friend, Obaid
has gone AWOL. In a series of events Ali is released and he soon carries out his
assassination plot to kill general Zia as he believes that Zia was responsible for his
father’s death. The book introduces multiple characters, including general Zia himself,
general Akhtar who is a three star ranked officer but Zia eventually promotes him, a
smooth torture named major kiyani, a communist sweeper, a blind rape victim who has
been imprisoned for fornification.

The case of exploding mangoes does not include many female characters that are
important to the development of the plot, except for Zia’s wife, who after seeing a
picture of her husband staring into the cleavage of an American journalist, declares that
he is dead to her. It shows that Zia’s wife did not really have much power and
significance. Also the book does not really describe much the role of Zia’s wife as the
wife of the president, exemplifying the poor status of women at that time. Another
female character, blind zainab who was a victim of rape highlights the declining status
of women at that time, for she could was not served justice and instead was held
accountable for adultery .Through the character of zainab we see the injustice and
lawlessness that prevailed during Zia’s rule. The blind zainab case in reality was safia
bibi’s case who was a blind teenaged domestic servant and in 1983 she was raped by
her employer and his son. Due to lack of evidence and witnesses she was pronounced
guilty of adultery and under the the zina ordinance, which is the crime of adultery, she
was sentenced to 15 lashes, five years imprisonment and was charged a fine of 1000
rupees.

Zia played an important role in fabricating the educational system by changing the
educational policies and the curriculum of state institutions. The curriculum and plans
were based on a rigid representation of islam.Educational policies and textbooks were
designed in such a way that denoted and promulgated gendered messages, favoring
males and discriminating against women. The process of islamisation, carried out by Zia
had a direct effect on the lives and status of women since it adversely affected not only
the areas of civil laws, education, and employment but also administration, banking and
agriculture. Islamiat was made obligatory as a course to be studied up to college and
university. The teaching of Arabic from class four was also made compulsory and many
religious institutions like madrassas were established. Laws and quranic verses were
repeatedly publicized and manipulated so as to influence the public perception of
women. At that time society’s patriarchal voice like the ulema was speaking and
subjugating women’s rights.Thus, people said that women should be kept at home and
should not be allowed to work in public places. This not only meant preventing women
from working in the government or private sector but it also meant that they could not
participate in sports or arts where men were the audience.In 1981 a census showed
that only 5.6% of women were employed to work as compared to 72.4% of men.Zia not
only banned women from taking part in sports but also from being spectators of sports.
At the same time he also promoted purdah.

It was under zia’s presidency that we can trace the islamization of society including
some barbaric and savage laws. Among them was a law illegalizing critiscism of Islam
and one mandating stoning of women who engage in adultery. Women were particularly
affected by the hudood ordinance and policies such as qanun-e -shahadat which
exacerbated women’s status in the male dominated society of Pakistan. Under this law,
if a rape was reported then four witnesses had to be presented otherwise the rape
would be termed as considered to be adultery .Another law, the law of evidence ,
declared that the testimony of a woman was not equal to that of a man. Even though
Islam grants equal rights to men and women many men and the ulema believed that
these beliefs were unislamic and western ideas.

Zia’s prejudiced perception of women and his oppressive and discriminating polices led
to some female organizations to raise their voice and one of these organizations was
the women’s actions forum. Despite their endeavors the position of women continued to
decline during Zia’s rule. He also suspended all the basic human rights guaranteed in
the constitution which had been adopted in 1973.He also proposed to introduce Islamic
penal laws regarding Qiyas and Diyat, growing retribution and compensation in crimes
involving physical injury. When the victim was a woman the amount of Diyat was
halved.

The experiences of zainab as well as many other characters including a policeman who
general Zia encounters after he disguises himself as a common man and who
unknowingly abuses general Zia, saying that: isn’t one general Zia enough for this poor
nation?” and also through Shigri’s character, who believes that Zia was responsible for
the death of his father, we realize the anarchy and lawlessness that prevailed during
zia’s time.

In my opinion although the book “a case of exploding mangoes” is fictional but through it
we realize the hypocrisy of general Zia when he in, in an incident in the book was flirting
with an American journalist and during his presidency we also lost of a sense of justice
and that women who were victims of rape must have felt when they couldn’t find four
sound witnesses. Also I believe it is partly because of Zia’s oppressive laws regarding
women that even today women in Pakistan are affected by these laws. They are
suppressed and subjected to gender discrimination and are unable to achieve their
rights.

Word count: 1,147 words

By: Kashmala Hussain

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