The Terrorist-Fighting Female Commandos of Pakistan | Woman with Gloria Steinem

whenever religious fundamentalist groups come into political power the equality of women is threatened in Pakistan the Taliban has controlled wide swats of tribal land for decades they use violence and Terror to assert male dominance over women in ways that permeate every facet of society we traveled along the border with Afghanistan to learn how this religious tide is affecting the lives of millions of [Music] women we're in Karachi my hometown which is the largest city of Pakistan it has a population of over 20 million um it's also possibly the most liberal city of the country yet as a Pakistani woman over the last decade or so I've noticed a huge cultural shift off the rise of Taliban that oppresses and marginalizes women but it hasn't always been like this our constitution ensures that women have equal rights to men and outlaws gender discrimination all we are interested in is peace and stability in 1988 we even elected Bayo to be the first female leader of a Muslim Nation but the tribal areas that stretch along Pakistan's 1500 mile border with Afghanistan have become a hot bed of extremism that threatens all of Pakistan we're traveling to the Borderlands now to see how this violence started and how women are suffering and fighting against it in the mid 1990s the Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan when us-led Coalition forces toppled the regime after 9/11 the Thal moved across the border into Pakistan's semi-autonomous fata or federally administered tribal area the mountainous region is largely governed by traditional Tribal Law and already sheltered other extremist groups because of ongoing military operations aimed at eradicating the militants in fata thousands of civilians from this region have been pushed into refugee camps like this [Music] one even though some of the women have agreed to speak to us the men haven't let the women leave their homes right now we're just trying to get access despite the risk we found a woman willing to speak to us while her husband was away we've been trying to get stories from women over here and we found it very difficult women don't want to come forward and talk to us because they're scared what are they scared of how did life for women change after the Taliban took over your area [Music] baby we had to cut the interview short because uh the woman who was speaking with us hadn't told her husband that she's going to be giving an interview um and it was almost time for husband to come home but she was really scared so we obviously had to wrap up speaking to us without the permission of her husband puts this woman at risk because the vast majority of these refugees adhere to a cultural and semi-religious practice called parda parda literally means curtain or covering but the practice also dictates how a woman behaves in society in its most liberal form fora simply implies a loose covering for women in public but in this ultraconservative region under the influence of the Taliban women must wear what's known as a full shuttlecock bka they have limited interaction with the world outside of their home and can't leave it without the permission of a male family member there is increased trauma and frustration among women particularly the youngers lawyer and human rights activist rakanda Naas explains how subjugating women is actually a terror tactic used by militant extremists to maintain power even in patriarchal system there was uh culture of Tolerance but now we are lacking culture of Tolerance this culture is really dangerous for us and if we we go even covering our body according to our own cultural way of parda so we might be attacked by a male from outside our family the male family member they feel pressure because if a girl from your family is attacked so you will be considered as shameful you were unable to uh control your women in the family you are unable to implement rules set up by the society or the community because families were so insecure entire social fabric was totally changed by restricting and persecuting women militant extremists have created a culture of fear that destabilizes communities and makes them easier to control it's hard to understand why it's so important to men that women remain covered and secluded I'm in the K bakuna Province at a Community Center for displaced people here I meet two men from North vistan a Taliban stronghold where parda is strictly enforc [Music] f [Music] for throughout the Borderlands militant islamists turn their extreme interpretation of the Quran into laws that subjugate women but even in this region there are places where women are pushing the limits imposed on them Rana jabin is the vice Chancellor of Sardar bahadur Khan University where women from even the most conservative families can get an education located in qua capital of the volatile baluchistan Province it's one of the few places where women are free to shed their PARTA but in 2013 the safety of the University was violated when a bus filled with University students was bombed by a militant extremist group targeting girls from a minority sect [Music] comfortable environment [Music] [Music] like [Music] for these women just pursuing an education comes with great risks they know that the reason they've been targeted is because an educated woman is a threat to the existing power structure but they refus to become victims of this violence they've taken ownership of their fate they're challenging their fate and they're using education to change their [Music] future women along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan are fighting the religious extremism that has overtaken the region some by getting an education and others through a more unconventional approach that defies gender Norms in their culture we're on the way to hungu now which borders with the federally administered tribal areas in Pakistan the streets are really isolated and you hardly see any cars it's an area that's rarely visited by journalists because it's considered too dangerous to get to we are here to meet shazadi galani who is the highest ranking female officer to ever serve in this conservative problem since her family aderes to strict parda culture shazadi has had to give up everything to be a police officer [Music] for although her parents eventually accepted shaz's decision her job has caused a rift within her extended [Music] [Music] family [Music] [Music] even though she is a commander shazadi cannot leave the compound because she is a woman and it would be too [Music] [Music] dangerous instead of being active in the field she's limited to teaching anti-terrorism measures to officers in train [Music] although she is confined to the academy shazadi believes she is making a difference Sports maor I got job in order to play such a high ranking role in the fight against terrorism shazadi has had to make sacrifices but the next generation of police women answering the call to serve are finding ways to fight extremism without giving up their PDA [Music] culture the escorts just arrived so now we're going to head to the Elite Force training [Music] Cent today a new generation of women are devoting their lives to defending Pakistan against religious extremism by becoming Commandos in a specialized anti-terror squad run by the Kakuna Police Department after 9 months of training that includes hostage negotiation heavy weapons firing and hand-to-hand combat these women will be sent out on raids of urban terrorist hideouts Elite for be oper [Applause] these women are transcending the societal limits dictated by their gender while still honoring that PARTA culture as a result women are now seen as an asset in the war against Terror [Applause] terrorism extremis theying from the front professionally they look up to that I think has changed a lot for Pakistan zindabad SSG zindabad lead for zindabad G for zad the lives of so many women that we've encountered throughout this journey have been affected by conflict the struggles that we've seen of people who've been displaced people who have lost loved ones those are the stories that actually form the fabric of society now but they say that when a country is affected by conflict and by War the communities that have long been suppressed begin to rise and you're seeing that with women in [Music] Pakistan the most striking part of these stories is that that all of the women we filmed were taking a risk simply by speaking to us that's because their voices alone are a threat it's a powerful reminder that women are the best weapon against oppression those who not only demand change but who become it through their own courageous words and [Music] actions [Music] [Music] got

Channel: VICE News

Views: 727,620

Keywords: Pakistan Female Commandos, Female fighters, Pakistan Female Terror Squad, Elite Women Commandos, Pakistan, Taliban, Women, Pakistani SSG, Pakistan Army, Pakistan News, Middle East, VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, vice news 2023, Extremist, terrorism

Id: Ot5euerr7cU

Length: 21min 21sec (1281 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024