Gender perspective of enforced disappearance affecting the Female relatives

Abstract

A major change in the world dynamics happened after the event of 9/11, the aftermath of that was seen in the related events of war on terror. In the same context, Pakistani authorities were encouraged by the United States to conduct raids, operations and do illegal abductions in the country. These were mostly covert operations conducted by the local instruments to please the western allies. This research presents an insight into the problem of Enforce Disappearance and its related issues. In 80 countries around the world about tens and thousands of people are enforced disappeared due to some conflict, political dissent or mostly on the basis of the war on terror. The real victims are the relatives that are left behind in fear of what is coming next. Some are often abused, and some of them risk their lives to find out the truth about their missing loved ones. In the context of Pakistani family dynamics, women are often raised as the subordinate part of the family. They mostly depend on the male relatives to provide them with food, shelter, and care. In the issue of Enforced Disappearance, when a husband, brother, son or a father is disappeared suddenly it creates an imbalance in the family. Women are often not educated not prepared for such a tragedy; they suddenly have to provide everything for her family as well as the struggle to find her missing relative. The literature regarding the study supports the argument that women face more vulnerability as compared to men, and due to the issue of Enforced Disappearance, they face exclusion everywhere. The results and findings of the study show that the women show high signs of dependency on male members of the household and also due to the disappearance of their relatives they are now more vulnerable than usual. They face various economic constraints including stigma from family and society. This is followed by psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. This also includes the health constraints women face due to the disappearance of their relatives. Most women complained about having high blood pressure, sugar, and asthma attacks. This study is an attempt to examine those social, economic and psychological issues faced by the female relatives of the Enforced Disappeared in District Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Ten households including four key respondents were taken for the interview of the study. The gender perspective in this study is about the female relatives that are left behind and face various socioeconomic issues in the society due to the disappearance of her male relative