Written
by Saadia Haq
With Ramadan the holy month of fasting, the
city of Islamabad’s
almost deserted. The mosques are full of devotes and the general populace are
going about their tasks with a weary, hangdog, hungry air. At the Restaurant
Khayam* in a market on the southwestern fringe of this planned capital of Pakistan, the
sign says “Closed for Ramadan”. But if one investigates further, a certain
business is booming.
Nina, Shireen and Katerina (pseudonyms
used) seem not really affected by what’s going on. Despite skirmishes with
the local authorities, police arrests of their colleagues they are staying put.
This is their bread and butter for nearly a decade. And they are sure
that sex-work has a rosy future in this stronghold of Islamic orthodoxy.
Nina says she’s a Turk from Ankara and a Muslim, while the other two fair-skinned
pronounced they are hail from Azerbaijan.
It soon emerges that all have Russians origins but are tight-lipped to divulge
further. One can draw conclusions that the minder and madam in this small
establishment is Katerina.
According to Katerina, there are over
five-thousand sex-workers – women- from Russia,
Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and other parts of central Asia. These women end up in Pakistan due to the trafficking
networks that are operating within and out of the country.
A large number is saturated in the initial
establishments in Islamabad
that caters to all sorts of elite classes. For instance, Katerina says
she’s a household name for the businessmen, diplomats and local authorities.
It does come as no surprise when she asserts that the lowly status of women in
Asian societies as well as booming sex-tourism has greatly contributed to the
phenomenon.
Despite tall-claims of purity vis-à-vis,
the Islamic State of Pakistan is listed as “a source, transit, and
destination country” for trafficked persons, according to the US
State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report for 2012.
Katerina and other members of her network
first came into the local public’s attention few years ago, when police raided
several plush guesthouses, and hotels. The sporadic arrests of involved women
and men could help establish the facts and situation better. She muses that
“it’s hypocritical of the local media to highlight stories of trafficking and
show reports covering the alleged dens and hide-outs.” She says it makes their
lives harder, but they have other ways to counter such crack-downs. The topic
of “women/girls sale” also came up, where I was told that prices
depend up the conditions in which the women/girls are, if its better, she can
be sold at a higher price.
Usually trafficked women are sold for
$1,000 to $2,000 depending on age, beauty, race and their virginity. The
youngest Nina* story is proof of this abomination. She was in the possession of
a factory owner in Jalalabad (Afghanistan)
for several years, and after getting bored with her, he re-sold her across the
border.
Many young sex-workers like Nina or some
underage ones also give birth to children who are also sold in the markets.
Katerina thinks that this is more common amongst those trafficked from
neighboring India
like the Bangladeshi origin women. Upon hearing the word, Bangladesh, India, almost all women draw their
lips as if mildly irritated.
I soon find out the reason is obviously
economic. The presence of South Asian sex-workers in Islamabad is perceived to be a mild-threat
because they charge less money from clients. This creates problems for Katerina
because of client rate haggling for her girls.
Obviously the conversation steers back to
them, Katerina and her girls were doing very nicely in Islamabad until the arrests and expulsions.
Now that fuss has died down, they are doing very nicely again. While we were in
conversation, the sun had set. As countless people followed the iftar sirens
and azan (call to prayers) to break the fasts, it was time for Katerina to
reopen her shop for the day—- in their case evening.
The irony of the situation was not lost on
me.
Shireen who until now was silent, walks up
to stand near the window. She says that she enjoys the mystical, peaceful
silence that follows during the month of fasting. Maybe later on, she and her
colleagues provide relief to many weary men that fasted during the day.
Across town at the Diplomat Inn (next door
to a United Nations agency), the price demanded for a half a night in the arms
of a “Turkish 19-year-old” – actually another Russian – is Rs8,000 (Euro 62).
These women are doing well because the classical
Central Asian look – fair skin, strong nose, glossy black hair – corresponds to
the Pakistani ideal of female beauty. Katerina is adamant that she and her
colleagues are quite over the feeling of being trapped into this profession. It
would not be wrong to say that they have a very blasé attitude towards being a
foreign sex-worker in Pakistan.
For them, it’s the best thing that could happen for they are in an advantageous
position. If they want, they can even open their wings to Middle Eastern
shores, where central Asian beauties are in high demand.
Does she miss home? Katerina says, “Despite
the fact that we send money once in a while, because we are lucky to have
maintained contacts, there’s hardly any concern for our whereabouts, it all
boils down to money.”
Indeed, poverty is the root cause behind
such blasé attitudes towards serious concerns like danger to life, health and
so on. This alone forces women like these to accept such ways of life.
As opposed to the other parts of the globe,
where organized gangs of traffickers trap women into sexual slavery, the
foreign sex-workers working in Pakistan
are here on their own, drawn by the financial rewards their exotic origins
offer them. With this, we came to an end, as now the girls had to finish
preparation for their night jobs.
Walking down the stair-case, I kept
thinking about the PACHTO Law and it’s uselessness to prevent
the organized crime of trafficking persons within the country.
Pakistan
made progress in law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking in 2009
with the prohibition of all forms of transnational trafficking in persons with
the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (PACHTO).
However, Government officials and civil
society report that judges have difficulty applying the law, because of
confusion over existing definitions and similar offenses in the Pakistan Penal
Code.
Overall the lack of adequate governmental
protection for trafficking victims continues, and implementation of laws is
another weaker factor to be noted.
*Names have been changed
References:
- US State Department’s Trafficking in
Persons report for 2012
Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, Pakistan
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