IRIN
PAKISTAN: Female quake survivors losing property
3 January 2006


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United 
Nations]

ABBOTTABAD, 3 January (IRIN) - A thin, grey mule laden with bags and 
sacks fidgets restlessly as he tries to flick a fly off his back.

Beside the animal, an equally thin boy stands, nervously adjusting the 
reins and loading the last few items into the bags. Muhammad Kareem, 14, 
is ready to accompany his aunt, Zumera Bibi, back to her village in the 
Allai Valley area, badly damaged by October's devastating regional 
quake, to try and regain control of the family property, which she fears 
has been lost.

"I came down from my village, which is located some 40 km from here, 
because the conditions there were very miserable. It was freezing, our 
house had fallen and I was worried about being caught there without 
food. But I made a terrible mistake. I should never have left our house 
unattended," Zumera said.

The family was told their house, left vacant after Zumera and her 
daughters moved down from the mountain village after the quake, had been 
seized by nephews of Zumera's late husband, Muhammad Ilyas.

She has no papers to prove that the house in which she lived for nearly 
20 years since her marriage to Ilyas belongs to her, or to her four 
daughters, all born in the same, tiny room at the back of the house that 
served as the couple's bedroom.

Zumera has no sons, and as tradition dictates she and her daughters have 
no right to the property, which would revert back to the brothers of her 
husband on his death. Even though, under the law, her daughters should 
get at least a share in the inheritance, this is frequently denied to 
women.

"It is not just. I have repaired that house myself and raised an 
additional room brick by brick, with my own hands. They have no right to 
steal it from me and my girls. Where will I go now? How will I fend for 
my daughters and arrange their marriages?" asks Zumera, anger and 
anxiety lining her face as she speaks.

Zumera's story is no different to that of hundreds of other women 
widowed by the quake. Many of those with no adult, male children face 
potential seizure of property - usually by male relatives.

In some cases, the claims of the women to the property have been 
challenged, and according to reports received by NGOs active in 
quake-hit areas of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), women without 
male family members have been forced to vacate homes or else hand them 
over to male relatives in the hope that, in return, they will help care 
for them and their children.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has already called for 
urgent government action to ensure women and child victims are not 
deprived of their inheritance or the compensation being given to owners 
of homes that fell as a result of the quake.

"We are concerned about the situation, and there is a need to protect 
women's right to property. They and the children cannot safeguard it 
themselves," said Hina Jilani of HRCP, a leading rights activist and 
lawyer.

The issue of property rights impacts on many quake-affected households, 
not just those headed by women. Tens of thousands of people have 
resisted pressure from the Pakistani government and from international 
relief agencies to move down from high altitude areas, stating their 
houses and land would be seized by others if they abandoned them, even 
for a few months.

"The only way we can keep our property is to live on it and farm the 
land. This is the proof that it is ours, and has been handed down from 
father to son to grandson, sometimes for centuries," maintains Razzak 
Hussain, 32, who has moved his family down to Battagram, 120 km north of 
the capital, Islamabad, but himself intends to stay on in his village, 
some 20 km outside the town.


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