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Yasra Rizvi's powerful campaign calls for an end to forced marriages and divorce shaming

Yasra Rizvi's powerful campaign calls for an end to forced marriages and divorce shaming

The actor stressed that such acts don't uphold tradition, they are blatant attacks on basic human rights.
04 Oct, 2021

Actor and writer Yasra Rizvi's recent social media campaign is meant to make viewers uncomfortable for a reason. It speaks out against forced marriages and divorce shaming — two social evils that can cause undue suffering.

Rizvi — who starred in the hit ZEE5 drama Churails alongside Sarwat Gilani, Mehar Bano and Nimra Bucha — posted a series of pictures on social media meant as a visual commentary against forced marriages and divorce shaming. The pictures show Rizvi in a festive red outfit with gold jewellery. She is bound in chains, her make-up badly smudged and hair dishevelled.

"Whether one wants to marry is an important and a very personal decision to make," she wrote in the caption. "Who to marry, how and where, getting to decide all this by yourself is a person's fundamental right. If the decision to marry turns out to be a mistake or if the marriage you willingly chose to undertake becomes a bitter experience, to end such a marriage is also a person's fundamental right.

"This is not some Western propaganda, it is a personal freedom given to us by our religion and law. The ones who are most affected by a marriage are the husband and wife, they are the ones who are most impacted the marriages good or bad consequences. They are the one who either live a peaceful life together or a life fraught with fights," Rizvi said.

"A marriage that decides what kind of lives two people will live together, how can that marriage come as a decision made by someone else other than the two people?" she asked. "How is this appropriate that the decision to marry be made without consulting or asking the people who are to marry? There's a difference between giving your opinion and imposing your decisions on a person to decide their life. Forced marriages and divorce shaming are not ways to respect tradition these are blatant attacks on basic human rights and sadly the most common and accepted ones around us. This needs to stop!"

The actor highlighted that marriage is a "social contract" that ensures the rights of and responsibilities towards one partner from the other. "It is unfair to make marriage an experience akin to imprisonment or death sentence," she said.

The actor encouraged her followers to stand up for those who experience oppression because of their marriages. "Stand up for your daughters, sisters, friends, female relatives and abused neighbours or that random woman being beaten up by her husband in a restaurant while he says 'yeh hamara aapas ka maamla hai' [this is our personal matter] before you get to carry a [loved one] of your own to the graveyard just because you were too busy being polite!" she said.

Women and young girls often bear the brunt of forced marriages in Pakistan. According to a 2013 UNICEF report, 21 per cent of girls were married before the age of 18 in Pakistan. Such marriages can prove detrimental for girls who are often physically and mentally unprepared for the sexual and reproductive activity that ensues between their often older spouses and themselves. According to the WHO, complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in 15 to 19-year-olds globally.

Whether a marriage was forced or not, ending the contract can often prove rather difficult. Although the law grants both men and women the right to divorce, individuals are often stopped or discouraged from exercising that right because breaking a marriage is considered a social taboo. With her campaign, Rizvi is trying to make more people understand that these practices are wrong and we're so glad she is speaking out.

Comments

Anwar Oct 04, 2021 04:03pm
This is not going to go down well with the vile men in this country. More power to you Yasra!
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Achakzai Oct 04, 2021 04:03pm
good comeback after pregnancy
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Modern Mullah Oct 04, 2021 04:26pm
Who will raise the issue for Husbands, being almost daily harassed by their wives, and their demand of Divorce on petty and minor issues?
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M. Saeed Oct 04, 2021 04:30pm
Another proof of prehistoric chained life of women.
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NYS Oct 04, 2021 05:50pm
Constant oppression gaslighting towards female leads to depression in the mean time feeling of insecurity occurs our social fabric have not stimulate the stigmatized tolerance is the best example, in case of woman with sufficient embodied skill and able to encounter then go ahead and make your way
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Farook Oct 04, 2021 06:11pm
I dont' know which Pakistan these 'portrayers' live in. I've never witnessed a case forced marriage all my life. Maybe they should just go and live in that parallel dimension where such cases exist.
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Khan Oct 04, 2021 06:21pm
Over exaggerating
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Saleem Oct 04, 2021 07:20pm
Please maintain your haya and imaan. Work with a molana go get back on the path of Islam.
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John Oct 04, 2021 07:41pm
Can women give divorce saying talaq 3 times?
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Salman Oct 04, 2021 07:56pm
Well done.
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fk Oct 04, 2021 08:23pm
Women should also stop divorce shame men!
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Kk Oct 04, 2021 10:04pm
Experience and brought up about a relation or gender speaks! We have around us very sucessfull marriages around us both arranged and love. Such mentality and depiction of wedlock infact causing more harm to our society and marriages.
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Hawk Oct 04, 2021 10:51pm
"This is not some Western propaganda, it is a personal freedom given to us by our religion and law. How much religion youfollow?
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Ahmed Oct 04, 2021 11:14pm
Divorce is bad. Even if it happens to be necessary it's still a sad occurrence. Don't try to normalize it. This way of protest is absolutely pathetic. If you can't get you pint across decently then its your lack of creativity to blame. You're not changing any opinions through this. Infact more people will think less of liberals because of this.
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Truth be told Oct 04, 2021 11:34pm
Cultural reforms only possible through mass education but over the course of a few generations.
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Shahid Lateef Oct 05, 2021 01:02am
It is a good and positive step for a fair society and she should be supported.
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THE EASTERN NEIGHBOR Oct 05, 2021 01:55am
very good and important message
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Sharmeli Larki Oct 05, 2021 04:46am
Promoting divorce as healthy. Shame on her.
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Haider Durrani Oct 05, 2021 06:04am
Trying to grab unnecessary attention.
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Khalid Ali Mughal Oct 05, 2021 08:03am
Totally agree & support
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Rush Oct 05, 2021 08:03am
I fully agree with her and support her noble efforts.
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Akil Akhtar Oct 05, 2021 08:48am
Both are wrong but the intentions behind such campaign seem to be more than that.....
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Alex Oct 05, 2021 10:16am
Very powerful pics and messages!
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apakmuslim Oct 05, 2021 10:32am
Yes it is attack on human rights. But we as a nation, do not seem to care
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GreenAura Oct 05, 2021 07:06pm
"Divorce shaming"?? Really??
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Neeraj Oct 05, 2021 09:15pm
@Modern Mullah no one stopping you from raising your voice.
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Queen Oct 06, 2021 03:11pm
@John A woman take khula if she is unsatisfied or abused in a marriage. Even a man cannot give talaaq just by saying the talaaq three times. There are certain conditions when a man can give talaaq and there ahs to be a time period in between when giving talaaq three times. Hope this clears your ignorance.
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Queen Oct 06, 2021 03:11pm
@John A man take khula if she is unsatisfied or abused in a marriage. Even a man cannot give talaaq just by saying the talaaq three times. There are certain conditions when a man can give talaaq and there ahs to be a time period in between when giving talaaq three times. Hope this clears your ignorance.
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Queen Oct 06, 2021 03:12pm
@GreenAura Yes it happens all the time in our society.
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Queen Oct 06, 2021 03:12pm
@Achakzai What has her pregnancy got to do with this message?
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Queen Oct 06, 2021 03:14pm
@Farook Need to open your horizons a bit. Just because you didn't get to see it doesn't mean it does not happens in our society. Stop living in denial.
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Khalid Oct 07, 2021 04:06am
I know a few men who have wives who treat them worse than dogs and they almost always cry in personal gatherings. Yes women generally face hardships in a relationship but even if few in number, cases of men being subjected to mental and physical torture by their wives need to be highlighted too, especially because talking about them is considered so absurd.
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AJ Oct 07, 2021 02:45pm
Absolutely, forced marriage is against the religious teachings. Divorce is permissible as the 'last resort' of ending a marriage. The sanctity of marriage should be upheld; otherwise, moral decay would ensue. Partnership and mutual respect between a man and a woman must be the cornerstone of marriage, not competition.
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