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Trumping Domestic Violence

In Pakistan, where 185 women were killed in domestic violence last year according to the country’s Human Rights’ Commission, 24-year-old Jamila Bibil was regularly beaten by her husband, a cobbler in the town of Chakwal. A month after the birth of her second daughter, Asma, he threw her out of the house without her baby. When family pressure forced her back, he promised in writing never to abuse her again and to give her maintenance money.

However, the beatings got worse. Eventually Ms. Bibil tried to self-immolate with petrol, but a neighbor saved her in time. “I wish I’d died that day because I was so fed up with my life, but I had to live because of my daughters,” she says.

Then Ms. Bibil heard about the Bedari Crisis Intervention Centre, part of a UN Millennium Campaign gender support program. A counselor there listened to her story and referred her to a pro-bono lawyer. She filed a case for her daughters’ custody, which was resolved in her favor within a day. She now plans to file a case for spousal maintenance with Bedari’s help. “I had lost hope,” she says, “but I’m happy to get my daughter back. •