Don't Remind Me

Chapter 37: The Idiot

"The best chance you have of protecting Chandi, is if you file an official rape case against Musa Shah. For that to happen, Chandi will be subjected to medical exams, multiple court visits, a whole lot of media publicity, possible death threats. There's no way her husband is going to hand over the divorce with a smile...." Juwariya "Juju"- my old play director, and recently appointed Civil Rights Attorney explained to me over a cup of strong tea in my office.

Juju has been a dedicated Human rights activist, from the moment she got her law-degree after graduation. Even though her job revolves around the toughest, meanest, darkest aspects of human nature, such as domestic abuse, oppression, and violence, Juju still manages to maintain the color popping headscarves, and neon eye-makeup. She has been Hiraeth's go-to legal adviser ever since I started. Even though I insisted on keeping her on a proper retainer, she doesn't accept a penny. There have been countless nights when I have woken her up, to help me with a particularly gruesome Honor killing case, or divorce petitions, or adoptive rights for separated kids, and she has never turned me and my girls down. If I can trust anyone to help protect Chandi, legally, it's her.

So this is why we-Pareeshae and I-are meeting her early on Monday morning.

Once Shay heard about Musa's legal threat, it was all I could do to stop her from marching up to his Karachi residence and ripping off his testicles to feed to starving dogs.

Since then, she has doubled security guards around the shelter. I even agreed with her insistence on installing CCTV cameras on rooftops and other previously neglected crevices of our building. The office building is right across the street from the residential block where the girls live, and it is often a difficult job to keep an eye on both at the same time. Our new security measures will hopefully cover a wider area, and ensure a good measure of protection.

"Are you trying to scare me off?" I laughed nervously.

Pareeshae scowled, ready to argue with Juju. The only reason these two get along is because I enforced a peace treaty between them, back when I first enlisted Juju as a lawyer. Both of them are too high strung, and opinionated to tolerate each other for longer stretches of time.

"Hell yeah, I'm trying to scare you. So that piece of fermented avocado doesn't do it for me." She bit into a Nutella puff, before warning me further, "This isn't like Shehrezade's case, Layla. You're dealing with a powerful political family here. Musa Shah's involvement can actually put you, and your employees at risk. And all this is if you actually have the guts to ask for justice. If you stay quiet, only Chandi gets hurt. I wish it weren't so, but the courts belong to the bigger douchenut in the stands. These people have enough money and power to annihilate you in court."

"Thanks Juju. I feel so much better now."

"No problem, girlfriend."

"It would be more helpful if you could tell us a plan B. We'd rather not wait around for them to make the first move, before we try to safeguard the child." Shay pointed out. "I want to make them pay for what they did to her. It goes without saying that we're never releasing her in their custody again. Who knows? what if they're trying to drag her back, just so they can choke her to death in her sleep or something?"

Honor killings are all too common an issue in tribal families. Even a hint of infidelity, or misplaced love, can become a noose around an innocent girl's neck...I have lost track of the number of stories I have collected over the years of honor killing victims. Articles, news reports, photographs, police reports of thousands of victims. They sit in neatly labeled files in my computer, as a daily reminder that I'm not doing enough. That my organization needs to be bigger, better, more efficient, if we wish to leave even a ripple in this ocean of oppression. Each new story is like a thorn in my side. I want to make Pakistan safe for women....somehow.