Pakistani feminist and progressive circles seem to be facing a serious moral dilemma, following the Islamabad-based American blogger Cynthia Dawn Ritchie’s allegations of rape and physical mishandling against the senior leaders of a centre-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
While some feminist activists have called for an investigation into Cynthia’s claims in their individual capacity, no prominent women’s rights organisation, including Auart March, Aurat Azadi March, Women Democratic Front, Women Action Forum, and Women’s Collective, has even tweeted a word on the allegations, let alone release an official statement.
#MeToo Slogan ‘Believe Women’
Most importantly, a debate within the socialist-feminist and liberal circles has also generated. Earlier the same debate was taking place in America when presidential candidate Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault by her former staffer Tara Reade. It is about the evolution of feminists’ stance on a famous #MeToo slogan, ‘Believe Women’, and its relation with another slogan, ‘Believe All Women’.
In May, Susan Faludi, a prominent American journalist and feminist, wrote a piece in The New York Times titled ‘Believe All Women’ Is a Right-Wing Trap, arguing that ‘Believe All Women’ is not an amplification of ‘Believe Women,’ but its negation. Moreover, the newspaper published another brilliant piece titled The Limits of ‘Believe All Women’, in which the author made a strong logical thesis: “What we owe all people [alleged victims], including women, is to listen to them and to respect them and to take them seriously. But we don’t owe anyone our unthinking belief. ‘Trust but verify’ may not have the same ring as ‘believe all women.’ But it’s a far better policy.”
Why Feminists Are Silent And Confused?
Many of the women rights activists here in Pakistan preferred silence due to the alleged affiliations of Cynthia Ritchie with the military establishment and her recent controversial tweets, accusing the late former primer Benazir Bhutto of orchestrating rape of several women and having ‘connections’ with the sex toy industry.
But this deliberate silence has raised many questions. The sympathisers of Cynthia – who mostly belong to right-wing groups – have called the activist ‘hypocrites’ for not expressing ‘unequivocal support’ for the US blogger. It is pertinent to mention here that Cynthia has always propagated the popular right-wing narrative, and in my knowledge she never raised her voice against the violence on women that has been taking place in Balochistan, erstwhile FATA, and some regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This violence is sometimes committed by the state itself. But these facts certainly don’t mean that her allegations have any less weightage or don’t require an independent inquiry.
I spoke to the prominent feminists and academics working on the gender issues prevalent in Pakistan to get their opinion on the blogger’s serious allegations against the PPP leaders. The experts examined the allegations quite differently, thus shared a divided opinion.
Acknowledging Cynthia’s Affiliations Isn’t Victim Blaming
Aimen Bucha, a feminist activist and member of Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM), said that the allegations levelled by Cynthia must be investigated. “However, her political affiliations must not be ignored in the investigation process. All the cases pertaining to rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment reported in Balochistan and other peripheral areas must also be investigated with the same vigour, especially the case of Noorani Bibi.” When asked about the silence of women's rights bodies on the blogger’s accusations, Aiman questioned: “Do these people who are supported by ‘political and military elite’ need our voice?”
Answering the critics, she said that those people who termed Aurat March ‘un-Islamic’ and ‘obscene’ are now demanding from the organisers to speak. While commenting on the slogan ‘Believe Women’, she said that considering the challenges women face in Pakistan, all women survivors must be believed because it needs a lot of courage to speak up in these living conditions. “I can surely say that Cynthia currently enjoys more power than any other woman in Pakistan.”
As some people are equating the highlighting of Cynthia’s personal affiliations and possible political motives with ‘victim-blaming’, Aimen disapproved this practice and said: “Cynthia’s allegations may be true, but they can’t be disassociated from her political connections and relations with the security agencies – that she also confessed in her letter to FIA.
The feminist-activist demanded the federal government to write a letter to US State Department to ask them as to why their response was “less than adequate,” according to Cynthia when she informed the US Embassy about the incident in 2011.
‘Allegations Should Be Seen Irrespective Of Cynthia’s Affiliations’
Nida Kirmani, a feminist sociologist working as an Associate Professor at LUMS, disagreed with the opinion of Aimen, particularly over the connection between Cynthia’s allegations with her personal and political affiliations. She said: “Being a feminist, I firmly believe that Cynthia’s allegations should be seen ‘irrespective’ of her personal affiliations and the possible political motives behind her accusations.” When asked, “Shall Cynthia’s personal associations and political motives be ignored at every level, even in the investigation process,” she replied: “That is not for me to say. The investigative body will decide that considering the evidence presented with regards to the levelled accusations.”
When asked about the slogan ‘Believe Women’, Nida, said that if some woman comes to her and reveals that she was once harassed/ raped, she would not only believe in her words but would also guide her about the future actions she could take against the perpetrator(s).
While talking about Cynthia in general, she said that the US blogger in the recent past, had spoken against a number of individuals and groups, including PTM and PPP that were and still are being critical of the ‘deep state’ and the current regime of PTI. “So far, Aurat March and other women's rights bodies I’m associated with have not taken up this matter as an official agenda, that’s why no press statement has been released,” Nida said when questioned as to why no women rights organisation has issued a press statement yet.
While some feminist activists have called for an investigation into Cynthia’s claims in their individual capacity, no prominent women’s rights organisation, including Auart March, Aurat Azadi March, Women Democratic Front, Women Action Forum, and Women’s Collective, has even tweeted a word on the allegations, let alone release an official statement.
#MeToo Slogan ‘Believe Women’
Most importantly, a debate within the socialist-feminist and liberal circles has also generated. Earlier the same debate was taking place in America when presidential candidate Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault by her former staffer Tara Reade. It is about the evolution of feminists’ stance on a famous #MeToo slogan, ‘Believe Women’, and its relation with another slogan, ‘Believe All Women’.
In May, Susan Faludi, a prominent American journalist and feminist, wrote a piece in The New York Times titled ‘Believe All Women’ Is a Right-Wing Trap, arguing that ‘Believe All Women’ is not an amplification of ‘Believe Women,’ but its negation. Moreover, the newspaper published another brilliant piece titled The Limits of ‘Believe All Women’, in which the author made a strong logical thesis: “What we owe all people [alleged victims], including women, is to listen to them and to respect them and to take them seriously. But we don’t owe anyone our unthinking belief. ‘Trust but verify’ may not have the same ring as ‘believe all women.’ But it’s a far better policy.”
Why Feminists Are Silent And Confused?
Many of the women rights activists here in Pakistan preferred silence due to the alleged affiliations of Cynthia Ritchie with the military establishment and her recent controversial tweets, accusing the late former primer Benazir Bhutto of orchestrating rape of several women and having ‘connections’ with the sex toy industry.
But this deliberate silence has raised many questions. The sympathisers of Cynthia – who mostly belong to right-wing groups – have called the activist ‘hypocrites’ for not expressing ‘unequivocal support’ for the US blogger. It is pertinent to mention here that Cynthia has always propagated the popular right-wing narrative, and in my knowledge she never raised her voice against the violence on women that has been taking place in Balochistan, erstwhile FATA, and some regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This violence is sometimes committed by the state itself. But these facts certainly don’t mean that her allegations have any less weightage or don’t require an independent inquiry.
I spoke to the prominent feminists and academics working on the gender issues prevalent in Pakistan to get their opinion on the blogger’s serious allegations against the PPP leaders. The experts examined the allegations quite differently, thus shared a divided opinion.
Acknowledging Cynthia’s Affiliations Isn’t Victim Blaming
Aimen Bucha, a feminist activist and member of Haqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM), said that the allegations levelled by Cynthia must be investigated. “However, her political affiliations must not be ignored in the investigation process. All the cases pertaining to rape, domestic violence, and sexual harassment reported in Balochistan and other peripheral areas must also be investigated with the same vigour, especially the case of Noorani Bibi.” When asked about the silence of women's rights bodies on the blogger’s accusations, Aiman questioned: “Do these people who are supported by ‘political and military elite’ need our voice?”
Answering the critics, she said that those people who termed Aurat March ‘un-Islamic’ and ‘obscene’ are now demanding from the organisers to speak. While commenting on the slogan ‘Believe Women’, she said that considering the challenges women face in Pakistan, all women survivors must be believed because it needs a lot of courage to speak up in these living conditions. “I can surely say that Cynthia currently enjoys more power than any other woman in Pakistan.”
As some people are equating the highlighting of Cynthia’s personal affiliations and possible political motives with ‘victim-blaming’, Aimen disapproved this practice and said: “Cynthia’s allegations may be true, but they can’t be disassociated from her political connections and relations with the security agencies – that she also confessed in her letter to FIA.
The feminist-activist demanded the federal government to write a letter to US State Department to ask them as to why their response was “less than adequate,” according to Cynthia when she informed the US Embassy about the incident in 2011.
‘Allegations Should Be Seen Irrespective Of Cynthia’s Affiliations’
Nida Kirmani, a feminist sociologist working as an Associate Professor at LUMS, disagreed with the opinion of Aimen, particularly over the connection between Cynthia’s allegations with her personal and political affiliations. She said: “Being a feminist, I firmly believe that Cynthia’s allegations should be seen ‘irrespective’ of her personal affiliations and the possible political motives behind her accusations.” When asked, “Shall Cynthia’s personal associations and political motives be ignored at every level, even in the investigation process,” she replied: “That is not for me to say. The investigative body will decide that considering the evidence presented with regards to the levelled accusations.”
When asked about the slogan ‘Believe Women’, Nida, said that if some woman comes to her and reveals that she was once harassed/ raped, she would not only believe in her words but would also guide her about the future actions she could take against the perpetrator(s).
While talking about Cynthia in general, she said that the US blogger in the recent past, had spoken against a number of individuals and groups, including PTM and PPP that were and still are being critical of the ‘deep state’ and the current regime of PTI. “So far, Aurat March and other women's rights bodies I’m associated with have not taken up this matter as an official agenda, that’s why no press statement has been released,” Nida said when questioned as to why no women rights organisation has issued a press statement yet.