PukhtunWomen

Everyone has the desire to help their fellow human beings but few have had the driving force of Samar Minallah. Facing threats, she bravely continues championing the cause she believes in.

For the past 15 years, Samar has been advocating for the rights of rural women first as a free lance journalist and then as an activist documentary filmmaker. Called the Crusader with a camera, she uses the electronic media as a tool for social change; her documentaries have a positive impact by encouraging people to question and discuss the issues.

Samar through her organization Ethnomedia, is effectively advocating against minor girls/women being given as compensation to end disputes throughout Pakistan. Utilizing various forms of media, and public meetings with different segments of society, Samar is breaking the silence on an inhumane custom that has silently been practiced for centuries throughout Pakistan.

In this thousand year old barbaric tradition, a girl is given (and in most cases unwillingly) to the clan of an enemy in order to end an old rivalry. It is actually more like blood money/price where a girl is substituted for money. In this inhumane custom called Swara or Vani, the criminal goes free, and an innocent girl pays the price.

From such cases as two minor girls being given away as compensation against 11 stolen buffaloes, or the case of a religious scholar solemnized a marriage of a one month old girl to a one year old boy to end an age old dispute, after a tribal Jirga’s verdict are hard to imagine, but are a daily reality of the world that Samar lives in.

Though un-Islamic and illegal, this century’s old customs take precedence over local jurisprudence and are backed by some politicians who do not wish to upset their constituents. The above and fifty other similar cases of girls from different parts of the country given as compensation have been averted with Samar’s dedicated work taking each individual case as far as the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Samar has challenged these customs with live debates and interviews with Islamic scholars, politicians and feudal lords who are also in most cases elected officials and thus beyond the reach of the law. Questioning and challenging these people through the Supreme Court led to the arrests of two tribal chiefs from two different parts of Pakistan. One of the journalists that helped highlight the incident through different forms of media has been missing since then.

With Samar’s continued efforts in June 2006 the Pakistan Supreme Court passed a benchmark decision that seeks to penalize the act of offering and accepting by way of compensation any child, or woman against her free will.

In the case that Samar was fighting (pro bono) for the girls aged 2, 3, 5 and 6, she challenged the decision taken by a feudal lord . Despite the risk of her life she bravely continues to advocate and defend girls who may never even know her.

In June 2006, when 8 year old Marina was to be given as compensation to the enemy’s family for a murder committed by her uncle. Samar went to an ongoing village council (Jirga) and appealed for justice. This was the first time that a woman was allowed to address an all male tribal gathering. After hearing out Samar, the tribal elders changed the verdict and demanded monetary fine in place of Marina as compensation.

Headed by Samar as the lead researcher Ethnomedia conducted a first of its kind quantative and qualitative research on the custom of giving away girls as compensation in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. The findings of the study have been shared with policy makers, media, law enforcement agencies and other stake holders.

Since most cases of Swara or Vani can be disguised as an arranged marriage, Samar is asking for and collecting all documentation of such cases.

Her two beautiful music videos Shinwarey Lewangeena and Bibi Shireeney that encourages female education and respect for women. The songs raise awareness of how women are culturally deprived of their basic human rights. They became so popular that pirated copies are being sold in the local markets of rural areas and tribal agencies. Many men have admitted to having wiped a tear when they first heard them.

Her documentary “Swara, Bridge over Troubled Water” helped to streamline the condition these girls are subjected to once they are handed over. It also brought attention to the fact that the practice is not only illegal but also un-Islamic. Girls who had once been forced to accept such cruelty now have started to come forward for help.

Swara’ has been nationally and internationally screened for a cross-section of society on several occasions at different venues, from the World Social Forum in Mumbai, South Asian Human Rights Film Festival in New York, International Conference for Media in Kolkatta, Kara Film Festival, University of Sussex, UK, and Film South Asia Katmandu Nepal.

One of the girls in the film who was awaiting her inevitable fate of being handed over to the avenging tribe, is no longer living under this dark cloud; the man to whom she was promised changed his mind after watching the documentary and witnessing the suffering of women who become victim to this barbaric tradition.

Apart from making the documentary Samar also persuaded the trucks and ‘rickshaw’ owners to paint slogans against the custom. Even today the brightly colored trucks zoom past highlighting a slogan ‘Giving away little girls as compensation is not only inhuman but also un-Islamic’
In this age of information when a film can be viewed by anyone living anywhere in the world and television shows through live web feeds are watched by a wider section of consumers than before, Samar hosted a weekly program for a private channel based in Islamabad. It was the first time that in an interactive show on gender issues was aired on sensitive issues like AIDS, Son Preference, Women’s health Issues, etc. Her words and arguments spread across the net in Pakistani and Pashtun websites igniting discussions everywhere. And in Samar’s words, “That is empowerment. That is the way forward.”
Samar designed an outreach media campaign on ‘Violence Against Women in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan’. A documentary that was part of the strategy has been selected by Amnesty International New York for the significant role it has played as a tool for communication for change.

The displacement of Afghan refuges is nothing new, but the bombings of recent years have left them in a worse plight while the world’s attention has been else where. Samar ’s documentary “Dar pa Dar” highlights the plight of the female Afghan refugees and what they have and are going through.
Samar has been mediating and arranging consultative meetings and workshops with the Media from various parts of Pakistan to involve them in creating awareness on different social issues. The Chief Justice of Pakistan has appreciated the role played by Samar and her organization in raising awareness; he instructed that the work be spread to other provinces of Pakistan as well.

The Federal Judicial Academy of Pakistan, Civil Services Academy of Pakistan, regularly invite Samar to deliver a talk to the newly appointed judges, police and other government officials.

Samar continues her fight and refuses to be intimidated or stopped.