Having lived all your life in Pakistan, one of the first things that strikes you when you start visiting other countries is how the women carry themselves over there.
Now I have never been to Europe or US and I am not comparing our country to the west. I am talking about places like Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.
It’s after you see the women in these countries that you realise that something is rotten in the state of Pakistan. Forget about the mere presence of women in all public spheres, just take the way they walk: with their heads held high, looking right ahead, shoulders straight and not hung forward, and without a constant perimeter check.
In comparison to this, when I go back to Pakistan, I can’t help but wonder if what we have is an open-air prison for women because all I see is their arrested movement and arrested growth.