Pakistan: A Poem In Solidarity with Kainat Soomro

Pakistan: A Poem In Solidarity with Kainat Soomro - A Victim of Frayed Justice

Kainat Soomro was violently gang-raped by four men in the rural village of Dadu in southern Pakistan in 2009 when she was 13 years-of-age. As typically happens in Pakistan, rather than rush to the young girl's defence the village elders decreed that she had brought shame upon the village and ordered her family to kill her. The Asian Human Rights Commission earlier reported on the incident in several interventions. Four years later, and after losing her brother who was assassinated by the perpetrators, Kainat continues to struggle for justice. Please refer to:

PAKISTAN: Judge humiliates teenage rape victim in open court

PAKISTAN: Gender-biased judge should be transferred from rape trials

PAKISTAN: The brother of a rape victim has been found murdered three months after his arrest

PAKISTAN: Complainant of a 14-year-old girl's gang-rape case is murdered in order to force the relatives withdrawing the complaint

In solidarity with the Kainat Soomro and as a tribute to her courage, Airyn Lentija Sloan, a Filipino poet based in Hong Kong has written the following poem in response to an article published recently in news.com.au. This article may be seen here.

Frayed Justice (A poem for Kainat Soomro)

By

Airyn Lentija Sloan

In this ebbing world

how much courage

you'll need

to survive?

Our question

to the unknown

If by chance

you noticed her glance

will you digest the stress...

the despondency...

upon her cheeks they tarry...

perhaps, dust that filth in your eyes

that you might see

her scalded marrow...

the lasting torment of that instance...

her innocence stripped with mud

an unending asylum

where light is trapped

within tearing seconds...

her lifelong demons

eat her nerves

piece by piece

within that mental arena

without escape

they gang-raped

...her.

And after bleeding her wound

she was called

"Kari"

for the world to understand

"Black Virgin"

they labeled

...her.

Yes, they pushed her under,

cheapened...

demoted...

humiliated...

from the delicate mortal

that she is...

for what account...

for what misdeed...

a sister?

a family?

a friend?

a suffering victim

fraying for justice,

praying for inner peace

...she.

What life is there to live

for such a shattered soul...

another call out to the unknown.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

ENDS

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