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| Wednesday, 12 January 2005 |
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The rape of the innocents Gender Dialogue by Nadira Gunatilleke Almost all the religions in the world teach human beings to behave as human beings and not to execute evil acts. But even after thousands of years some people kill human beings and destroy nature while some people sacrifice their lives to save same. All of us saw the fury of nature at its worst. Nature did not categorise the good people and bad people when punishing them. It is unbelievable how some beastly humans continue their practices after nearly 30,000 people sacrificed their lives to the furious sea. "I was running away from the seaside for my life. I had nothing in my hands. The only valuable thing I had was a small gold chain which my mother put on my neck when I attained puberty. There were hundreds of men running here and there pretending that they help rescue people and property. While I was running in the Galle road one person who was running to the opposition direction (where the waves are coming) snatched my gold chain. There was no time to look for it and I ran for my life. That gold chain was the only jewellery I had apart from my earrings. Do you think that nature will not punish such people?, she asked. That was an experience of a poor woman who escaped the disaster. Another woman victim who was staying in a school with her two children said she was running away from her house located by the sea. I ran to the roadside with my four month old son and three year old daughter. My husband abandoned me after the birth of my second child and I had nothing but my two children. I stopped a canter moving towards Horana and got into it. There were several groups of young men and one group `helped' me to pull my elder child into the canter. They had removed my little daughter's tiny gold chain and two gold bangles. Now I have a doubt whether those `rescue group' had hearts"! According to a young girl who stayed few days in a school after the tragedy she had to undergo harassment while staying with other `displaced' people. "There were hundreds of displaced people in that school. I stayed there with my mother and sister. My mother is sick and my step sister is just eight months old. I knew all the people who stayed there with us. But I will never forget the behaviour of some of those `Ayiyas' and `Uncles' who stayed there with me. They couldn't rape me because I always slept between my mother and one of my aunts. But they harassed us in all possible ways. It was not only myself who underwent this ordeal but a few of my friends (girls elder/younger to me)." Her story is too horrible to write here. According to some recent media reports a few other girls had been raped while seeking safety during the Tsunami disaster. A man reportedly a girl after taking her to a place saying that she will be given some clothes to wear and another girl was raped by a gang while she was staying in a hotel with her boyfriend till the disaster ended. There is only one way to describe this. This is worse than raping one's own mother. The recent tragedy was a global, natural disaster. But majority of the dead are women and children. They are physically weaker than men. Therefore the world has a duty to help the first in all difficult times. But what had happened in Sri Lanka is unacceptable, should be highlighted everywhere and the perpetrators should be given the harshest punishment. All the Buddha statues and the other religious statues stand by the seaside even without the slightest damage. It is `Ahinsa' and the importance of protecting one another's rights that will protect you always. |
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