First Person: ‘Our fight just got a body blow’

Female Genital Mutilation and why we just hit a big wall.

I have been fighting, alongside thousands, against the horrifying, debilitating practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). It is also known as khatna, and the protest has been building up in the 2 milllion strong Bohra community in India. Recently, our fight received a body blow when in a public sermon, the Syedna (top cleric), indirectly upheld the practice while urging all the followers to persist with it.

Mind you, this is the first time clerics in India have spoken about FGM. Our previous letters to the authorities have been ignored and we’ve not received a reply.

And on the occasion of the death anniversary of the 51st Dai Syedna Taher Saifuddin, at a public gathering, the Syedna proclaimed, “It must be done. If it is a man, it can be done openly and if it is a woman it must be discreet. But the act must be done. Do you understand what I am saying Let people say what they want ... What do they say that this is harmful Let them say it, we are not scared of anyone.”

This is a clear reference to FGM/khatna, even thought the word was not used. He further dismisses and derides all opposition which “claim khatna is harmful” and tells bohras it is their religious duty to practice it.

The statement comes at a time when large sections of women in the community have for the very first time come out openly to speak about this secretive practice and have bared in public the ill effects this practice has had on them. ‘Speak out on FGM’ was the movement which was built with this need of the FGM survivors to tell their stories.

This feisty group of women have been waging a relentless battle within and outside the community. That social reform and social change of any kind is never easy is well illustrated in the struggle against FGM among the Bohras.

We have campaigned at every possible platform and fora that we could get and put the reality of this practice in the public domain. We have personally suffered and we are hearing more and more voices of pain. The practice is so secret, (the Syedna himself says that for women, do it discreetly), that we the victims of it also never spoke about it or confided about the after-effects to anyone. Little wonder that most people in India are not even aware that something like this continues to happen in our midst.

I was myself taken to a corner in the city for the procedure and only much later, did I discover how it had affected my life. And there’s this group we now have which is encouraging women to come out and tell us about their suffering. Just hearing their stories of hurt singes all calm.

What is even more perplexing and hypocritical is that the same clergy, which upholds FGM in India, has passed resolutions in jamaats in USA, UK, France and Australia calling upon the bohras living in these countries to abstain from practising FGM as it is against the law there. These Jamaats which have the full backing of the Syedna passed unanimous resolutions in February and March 2016, stating “Hubbul Watan Minal Iman”, which means love for the land of abode is part of our faith. Furthermore they said, “All parents are directed in the strictest terms not to carry out khafd (khatna) under any circumstances and the consequences of breaking the law will be solely yours.”

Why the double speak If the need for such resolutions arose because of laws in those lands, and specifically because three bohras were facing conviction and a jail term for having done FGM on two young girls in Australia, then surely India too needs a strong anti FGM law to act as a deterrent.

In December 2015 we started a petition on change.org urging India to ban FGM. It has garnered over 50,000 signatures so far. It is time the government of India heard our pleas and passed such a law here to save and protect the bohra girl child.

The author can be reached at formasooma@gmail.com