ISSUES OF WOMEN IN FATA: A STUDY IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAMIC SHARI’AH

Abstract

Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan, have been the focus of international media and think tanks since the dawn of the present century for multidimensional negative trends regarding women. In FATA, the tribal society followed a variety of trends related to women which have thousands years old historical backdrop of Pakhtun civilization. These customs and traditions are therefore helpful for the society, but sometimes come at odd with the Islamic Shariah (Islamic law). Islamic Shariah provides balancing differences between the roles, rights, and obligations of women and men. Majority of Pakhtun cultures are not willing to give rights to the women regarding marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education based on different interpretations. However, neither the Quran nor Hadith mention that women have to be housewives only. In order to provide rights to women there are different NGOs, Philanthropists, government agencies and volunteers endeavoring for many years, but till today the disgrace/embarrassment of women cannot be overcome by any way. The present study investigates the role of women living in the federally administered tribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan by discussing their problems and suggesting solutions for them from Islamic perspective.