A Woman Enslaved "Legally"

This is the story of a 40 year old woman named Asifa

I personally know asifa very closely

Asifa was the youngest of her 6 sisters and 2 brothers , belonging to a lower middle-class Pakistani household , she didn't have much to acheive in her life

Despite the economical and societial challanges ,she wanted to complete her education , and she did, her family didn't supported her much but niether discouraged her

She completed her bachelors and wanted to study further but forced to marriage at the age of 19

She accepted her faith and wanted to live a happy marriage life

Asifa was a wonderful girl , she was kind , considerate, encourging , smiling , always helping others , everyone was happy with her in her entire life

She was also very talented , she liked making realistic art ,sketching , drawing

Everyone who looked at her art was amazed by it

She was also a great cook , making delicious food for her family and everyone seemed to enjoy it

her life took a 360 after her marriage

The first night of the marriage , her husband verbally abused her for not bringing much dowry

Turns out that her husband was a crazy , egoistic person

He tortured her mentally for not bringing much dowry

Even after all the challenges , she wanted to make him happy , his family happy

after 1 year she had her first child , but the behaviour of her husband didn't change , he was still toxic , still egoistic , as she continued to feed his ego , his ego grew overtime

Now he started beating her for little reasons like "food not being " and "tea not having right sugar"

But now there was nothing that she can do

she didn't wanted to ruin his child life by taking divorce because in Pakistan being a "DIVORCED WOMAN" is considered curse for the family

Moreover she knew the challanges her baby boy will have to suffer if she took a divorce

so she decided to stay

After 2 years she was pregnant with her 2nd child and her first child was so ill that he seemed near death , at that time her husband tortured her for the reasons that her family didn't ask him about his child health and stuff but the reality was this that he used to ignore all her family members , whenever they tried reaching him

Despite being pregnant and her diseased child sharing bed with her at the hospital no one came to see her

after the 2nd child things remained same

Now her husband threatened her that if she didn't do whatever he says , he'll give her divorce

She was scared at that time because she knew that ,she can't leave her children alone

She tried to took that action several times but couldn't do it as she always thought about her children

Fast forward to 10 years of mental torture , they had a daughter

But the behavoiur of husband didn't change

although , her resillience earned her respect from all her inlaws and his parents too

But she was treated as a servant by her husband always

In Pakistan there aren't many jobs for a woman to do and earn enough to feed her children all by herself , plus the lives of children whom parents are divorced , usually have miserable lives , no governmental organization is there to help this cause , but everyone is there to criticize a woman who takes divorce

He knew that she can't leave him because of their 3 children

Both her older sons did had a traumatic life due to parents always fighting but they were always on her side , everyone was on her side except him

She accepted her faith but his behaviour didn't change

After 22 years of marriage , Asifa is still suffering torture

Her sons are now grown up , they asked her to give their father divorce but she knows that she cannot ,as their are rarely any acceptance of a girl in marriage , who's parents are divorced

So she didn't want to ruin her daughter life

All her children are very confident , hardworking and have a good life for them in future but she completely sacrified her life for them and to this day still suffering.........

Her husband knows it exactly that she can't take divorce and continuos to threaten her to this day , but never really gave her a divorce because he knew she had no place to go

before driving conclusions and judging her

we have to ask ourselves these questions:

DOES ASIFA REALLY HAD A CHOICE?

WAS TAKING DIVORCE WOULD HAVE IMPROVED OR WORSEN HER CHILDREN LIFE?

WOULD SHE BE ACCEPTED BY THE SOCIETY ,IF SHE DID TOOK DIVORCE?

WAS THIS REALLY A MARRIAGE OR AN ENSLAVEMENT CONTRACT?

Whatever we say , whatever we wish , whatever we do

The reality is this that she was indeed one of the millions of women in Pakistan , who are ENSLAVED LEGALLY for the rest of their lives