Senior Counsel has suggested that it was not necessary to display the name of the father on the identification documents. Court refers matter of a 22-year-old girl Tatheer Fatima seeking removal of her father’s name from the parentage column of her passport and identification papers because he abandoned her in childhood. (Source: Dawn)

Comment:

This is an example of a system that tries to address the issues at the surface, ignoring the depth and the emotional level of such issues. The rising divorce rate in Pakistan indicates that the number of broken homes has risen, and as a result, children lose at least one parent. Getting custody of a child means receiving the full responsibility and all kind of burdens of bringing the child or children up while the other parent is relieved of all his or her responsibilities. Courts may have powers to give a decision, but execution is almost impossible to see. Mothers who get the custody of their child never get the promised financial support from the father, and if the father gets the custody, the mother is always deprived of meeting her child. When children see one parent exhausting him or herself for them, they become bitter and start hating the parent who is ignoring the responsibilities. Tatheer’s case is an example of that, and she feels that her father has no right to have his name placed next to hers, as her father.

Lahore recently witnessed a gruesome case where a 17-year-old boy from a broken home, who was living with his well-to-do father and grandmother, who was a doctor, got them both murdered by the servants. Family sources have revealed that the boy was neglected and he had tried to get help from the family to resolve conflicts with the father.

What we need to understand is that neither killing a negligent father is a solution nor denouncing him is a welcome trend. Tatheer may get some satisfaction by getting all the attention and by bringing a change in the paternity or identity papers, but will she be able to get her due rights or will it help others? The answer is no. The solution for problems like this is to have a comprehensive justice system that is not designed by the limited mind of man. Allah (swt) has provided justice for the minutest details and a sharia law judge that gives judgment on a case only explicitly based on the Sharia. Judiciary in Islam is supposed to provide fair and swift justice. The state is responsible to provide a child with their due right. These children are the future of this Ummah and the physical, emotional and financial abuse they suffer cannot be eliminated by revengeful actions or demands. The people of this Ummah are in dire need of the return of the Khilafah, as only that can provide them a dignified solution of their problems. In Islam it is the will of Allah (swt) that is applied on the people, not the will of fragile people who are feeling revengeful.

أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ

“Does He who created not then know? He is the All-Pervading, the All-Aware.”

[al-Mulk, 67:14]

Ikhlaq Jehan