News:
It was reported by Press Trust of India on January 25, 2015 that Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said in the capital on Sunday while asking countrymen to take a pledge to protect women's honour, "Atrocities of rape, murders, harassment on roads, kidnapping and dowry deaths have made women fearful in their own homes." Addressing the nation on the eve of 66th Republic Day, he said, "it pains me to see that Mother India is not respected by her own children when it comes to the safety of women". The President said only a nation that respects and empowers its women can become "global power". "Every Indian must take a pledge to protect the honour of women from violence of any kind. Only a nation that respects and empowers its women can become a global power," he said. Mukherjee said, "Where have we failed, as parents, teachers and leaders, that our children have forgotten all tenets of decent behaviour and respect for women? We have enacted many legislations but, as Benjamin Franklin had once said and I quote: "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are", he said.
(Source:http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/rape-murders-harassment-on-roads-have-made-women-fearful-president-pranab-mukherjee/)

Comment:
This address by Indian President has coincided with the American President Obama's visit to India on the same day so that he can readily take note of the Indian concern about women protection and empowerment reforms recently announced by the Indian Government, which aim at more economic and social empowerment of women. India has witnessed a huge rise in rape and women harassment cases over the last decade or so. This issue of viewing women as lower cast and in some situations not as a human at all, is partly due to the thousands of years of Hindu religious teachings and partly due to the Capitalist Ideology and system that is being implemented in India today. Under Hinduism the women were considered as cattle which could be bought, sold and used as desired. Women were burnt alive upon the death of their husbands under the Hindu custom of "Satti". Females are still considered worthless so either they are buried alive when born, or are aborted during pregnancies. As fetus-imaging technology has advanced, India has lost more than 12 million girls, according to a 2011 British study. This has skewed the ratio of women to men in India to what the United Nations calls "emergency proportions." It can upset the natural social balance, such as men being able to find a mate. The number of Indian girls born for every 1,000 boys has dropped from 964 in 1971 to 918 in 2011. In some areas, it is as low as 837.

Under Capitalism, the concept of freedom of expression and individual freedom has given the society another tool to monopolize and exploit the femininity of women. They are portrayed as the most degraded object with scanty clothes and as seducing commodities by the Indian media, film and fashion Industry. They are treated as money making machines in factories, fields and other work places, in inhumane conditions with minimal wages and long tiring working hours; not respecting their roles as mothers, sisters and wives. And still the Indian President has the nerve to ask where have they failed, as parents, teachers and leaders, that their children have forgotten all tenets of decent behaviour and respect for women?

India was ruled for more than thousand years by Muslim Rulers, which pledged their allegiance to the Khilafah "Caliphate" unconditionally. It was the start of Muslim Rule under the first Muslim General Muhammad Bin Qasim in 712 CE, who was sent by the Khilafah "Caliphate" to save Muslim women's honor in Sindh, that laid the foundation for protection of women under the Divine Laws of Islam. Under Muslim Rule, the Indian women enjoyed the highest level of protection of life, honor and property. The brutal custom of "Satti" was abolished and mother and daughters were viewed as respected and worthy citizens of the state. Hence, laws given by Allah (swt) are the only laws that protected women for more than 1300 years under the glorious period of Khilafah "Caliphate", and they are the only laws which along with the ruling, judicial and social systems and education policy of Islam, can protect the women now. As the Islamic education policy instills in children the fear of accountability before Allah (swt) before anything else, the social system restricts the free mixing of genders in private places, along with other Divine laws that nip the evil in the bud, minimizing the crime rate to almost nil. This can only be achieved by the revival of the Second Righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" under the leadership of Hizb ut Tahrir, which is working tirelessly for this cause under a single Ameer Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah. Allah (swt) says: ﴿لِّلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَ كَانَ بِكُلِّ

((لِّلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا ۖ وَلِلنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَ ۚ وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِن فَضْلِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا))

"Men have a share in what they earn, and women have theirs in what they earn. Ask God for His favours. Surely God has knowledge of everything." [Al -Nisa: 32]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Umm Musab

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir