by MARK MAGNIER
Women have little say when the man wants out, yet little way to leave if he’s abusive but wants to keep her in. Once divorced, they often lose custody of their children.
Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan – Zahida Ilyas looks every inch the demure Muslim woman, dressed from head to toe in black, her face ringed by a head scarf, the epitome of outward modesty.
Then her eyes flash and her jaw hardens as she recounts how she was beaten dozens of times, saw her husband take away their five young daughters, divorce her without telling her and leave her with nothing, least of all her dignity and confidence.
“He could kill me and no one would care,” Ilyas, 32, said. “The police, courts, they’re all on the men’s side. No one listens to us.”
With divorce and domestic violence on the rise in Pakistan, all too often women are dealt a doubly bad hand, family experts say. Women have little say when the man wants out, yet little way to leave if he’s abusive and wants to keep her put.
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