Imagine you are a woman in Pakistan, and you'd lost everything in a devastating earthquake [3] that also claimed your husband’s life. Now, imagine you are fighting to get something, anything, back – say, for argument’s sake, your land. You don’t want the land for yourself – you want it for your two little boys, who were set to inherit it down the road. As a woman, you would have little ability to claim the land yourself.

Here are some of the obstacles you might face in trying to ensure your sons’ rightful inheritance:

1. Your former husband’s family has taken the land.

2. You need birth certificates for your sons to prove their claim, but unfortunately, the certificates were also lost in the earthquake.

3. To get new birth certificates, you will need to travel. This means you need a male from your family to travel with, permission from the eldest male in your husband’s family to make the trip, and money for the fare.

The money won’t be easy to come by. Right now, your former husband’s family is providing you with food, but no money. They won’t pay for your sons’ education. Obtaining permission from the eldest male is an uphill battle, as it is in his interest to keep his hold on the land. Ditto goes for the male who would travel with you.

This is just the beginning of the uphill battle for many of the women in Pakistan today, women who lost everything during 2005’s massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake.

If the woman above had daughters instead of sons, her fight would have been very different – it might have been to protect her daughters from underage marriage to much older men. If she had mourned for 40 days over the death of her husband, as many Muslim women do, she would not have gone out in public, making it impossible for her to receive relief aid that was distributed during that time. No matter her situation, she would face many obstacles to overcome.

That’s why UUSC partnered with an organization called Bedari [4] after the earthquake. Bedari, which means awareness, is working hard to address some of the issues that are specific to women – issues like land rights, access to education, and access to sustainable livings. In the aftermath of a disaster, it’s often women and girls who are most affected, and Bedari, alongside UUSC, is working to address this disparity.

At a recent educational program for UUSC staff, Martha Thompson, the program manager for Rights in Humanitarian Crises at UUSC, talked about the situation facing women in Pakistan, and the work of Bedari. Watch the video below.

[7]In the aftermath of crisis, women who own property are better able to cope [8]. Women with land have higher incomes, can use land as collateral for credit, and are less likely to be victims of domestic violence. That's pretty big stuff.

The October 2005 earthquake [9] that rocked Pakistan was a major crisis. UUSC knew women would be among the most vulnerable during recovery.

Many women would miss out on aid because their public movement is so limited. Others might be pressured to give up their undamaged assets. Widows would have to rely on extended families for survival -- families who were also devastated by the crisis. For many reasons, women would face greater difficulties trying to cope.

So UUSC worked with its Pakistan program partner Bedari [10] to introduce the issue of women's inheritance rights. Working in 30 earthquake-affected villages, UUSC and Bedari learned that many women want to inherit their share of land and assets -- a right that is explicit in both national and sharia (Islamic) law. However, most women felt pressured not to demand their inheritance or felt their demands would be ignored.

UUSC and Bedari also learned that many people -- women and men alike -- did not even know their rights.

Today, UUSC and Bedari -- and leaders in 30 villages -- continue to work with earthquake-affected communities to understand and defend the rights of women in the rebuilding process. Girls who are not in school are being encouraged to attend. Women who have been left out of official compensation packages are receiving legal support.

After such a crisis, rebuilding is a long and arduous task. But with a little support, women and their communities in Pakistan are rebuilding -- with justice.

Join us -- support this work [11].

Pakistan's in flux.

The siege [14] of Islamabad's Red Mosque is just one of the latest, big examples of this instability. Pakistanis have differing visions for their country: Should it move toward greater democracy? Should it focus on becoming more fundamentally Islamic? Who has a right to be a part of the discussion? Is there even space for discussion?

People are bracing for a showdown. Political instability is increasing. Radical movements [15] are increasing. There have been at least four assassination attempts against Gen. Musharraf in the last six months, and the talk is about "when" an attempt will succeed, not "if." It seems that positions are hardening in Pakistan. And that's affecting everything.

In northern Pakistan, it's making it more and more difficult for survivors and their helpers to work together to reconstruct homes and communities after the November 2005 earthquake.

Last month, Taliban issued a Fatwa (a judgment on Islamic law) to a school in Pakistan urging people "to refrain from going to schools and NGOs. We know that some girls go to school and that some young boys work in NGOs. We urge you to abandon following the infidels. . . . With [this] decree, Taliban have been allowed to stop or kill people going to NGOs and girls going to schools."

With threats like this, relief and reconstruction work becomes more difficult and puts everyone's safety in danger. The work slows, or stops.

This month, the United Nations and other relief agencies have pulled out [16] of one badly affected province. All organizations are being advised to assess the threat level and their vulnerability, and adjust their plans accordingly.

With already limited and further dwindling assistance in getting their lives back on track, the survivors are on the losing end, again.

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UUSC [17] continues to work with its program partners in Pakistan-administered Kashmir [18]. Stay tuned for updates on this brave work!

[21]
Snippets of a conversation:

. . . And so you want women in your earthquake-affected [22] village to have the chance to learn skills that can become ways for women to earn money?
- Yes.
And you say that if women earn some money, they will gain some respect within their families and even have some control over how that money is spent?
- Yes.

Tell me, sister, how old are you?
- 33.
And how many children do you have?
- Seven, ma'am, and one who died.
How old is your oldest child?
- Nineteen.
And your youngest child?
- Three.
So you were married at sixteen, had your first child at seventeen, your last at 33, and you have at least ten more years of raising your children, plus taking care of your husband and his parents?
- Yes.
And you must also take care of all the household chores, including fetching water, collecting firewood, tending the livestock, cooking three meals a day for eleven people, washing clothing by hand, and keeping the house clean?
- Yes.

Tell me, sister, when would you have time to learn skills and earn money, with so many responsibilities and such a large family?

- [Nervous laughter] Yes, sister, we want control of that, too...

Today, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf praised his country’s security forces “engaged in this sacred task in the supreme national interest.” What sacred task, Mr. President?

I’ve just spent six days in the towns and villages of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, and I hoped the “sacred task” Musharraf referred to was the slow process of rebuilding [25] so many destroyed homes and communities shattered by last year’s October earthquake that killed 73,000 people and left over 3.5 million homeless. The army has been the major actor in the immediate relief and ongoing recovery following that tragedy. While imperfect and politically questionable, many people in Kashmir commend the role the army has played. Yes, this must be what Musharraf meant.

Alas, Musharraf’s sacred task [26] is none other than the Global War on Terror. He vows to crush terrorism at all costs. Last week, he gave the world an appalling illustration of this vow when he bombed a religious school in Bajaur [27] on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing over 80 people, many of them children. The government says it was targeting militants. Locals say civilians died in the attack.

Immediately, there were protests in seven cities throughout Pakistan. In the Tribal Areas, 20,000 people rose up in protest, and called for waves of suicide bombers [28] to attack Pakistani forces, just as militants in Iraq and Afghanistan are targeting U.S. and British forces. Editorials and articles in local papers assume the attack was US-ordered, if not directly carried out by a U.S. drone. The events were all over the front pages here.

Musharraf’s rejoinder to all of this was that he would not let up on his sacred task.

And today, just as we expected, a suicide bomber attacked [29] an army training school in northwest Pakistan, killing over 40 soldiers. It made international news. They say no one has claimed responsibility. We know it is retaliation for the Bajaur bombing. We will not be surprised if this deadly eye-for-an-eye continues.

Sacred indeed.

I came to Pakistan to learn about the earthquake relief and reconstruction process. But I have been getting an education on the subtler points of the Global War on Terror, none of them too subtle. Pakistan is a major front in this war, indeed the front after Iraq and Afghanistan. Tension in Pakistan is high. The violence under the surface, bubbling out in places, is severe. A never-before-conceived-of coalition of six conservative religious parties is Musharraf’s major opposition. Pakistan is dangerously divided post-9/11.

And sadly, the profane use of violence is considered sacred on all edges of that divide.

UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association [32] announced that they have created a joint fund to respond to the recent earthquake that has devastated the Himalayan regions of Pakistan and India over the weekend.

“We’re deeply moved by the scale of this tragedy,” said UUSC President Charlie Clements. “UUSC’s perspective in protecting the human rights of vulnerable people in disasters will be an important guide in our response.”