I’m a 20 year old college student from Pakistan. And while I agree with most of what has been said in the article and the comments following…I feel I have to clarify some things. Firstly, educated women (especially those in living in cities) are much more aware of their rights and can protect themselves better, both by invoking their legal rights and by becoming independent. Unfortunately, most of the articles I see about Pakistan only talk about the oppressed women, and while they are a staggering majority, I hate seeing Pakistan in that light. Pakistan has a very very diverse culture…you have extremely liberal educated people, moderate people, extremely religious people, and then the fundamentalists. It’s the last group that is a threat to the nation as a whole, and to women in particular, when its members insist that what they do is in the name of Islam. What most people don’t know is that Islam gives women a lot of rights, and all of these barbaric activities; ‘honour killings’, ‘female mutilation’ and so on, are strictly unIslamic. Unfortunately, because these activities have sprung up in predominantly Muslim areas, people connect the two together. In my opinion, its not religion that needs changing, its the culture, the fundamentalism and the wrong intrepretation of religion that many clerics and organizations are promoting for their own personal benefit. That is why I feel angered not only when I’m told of these practices, but also when I hear people rant without research against Islam, Pakistan, or make similar sweeping generalizations…Being mad that “Islam exists” doesn’t seem to solve the issue… Freedom of religion, anyone? Mary Lou: It is true that technically women can seek asylum in other countries. Unfortunately, the number of women in rural or remote areas who are treated so barbarically is so huge that seeking asylum, or even getting it once you’ve sought it is close to impossible. Also, many of these women don’t know that that is an option, much less how to pursue it.