Can you imagine a mother, her heart pounding with love, being forced to kill her own newborn baby? It’s unthinkable, a nightmare that rips your soul apart. But in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, this horror is real, and it’s happening right now.
Why? Why would a mother do something so heartbreaking?
Because the brutal laws of Islam, cloaked in the name of "Zina" (fornication), push these women to the edge. They’re not just fighting for their lives; they’re fighting to shield their families from shame in a society that brands their babies as stains on honor. These mothers face an impossible choice: kill their child or face punishment, disgrace, or even death.
The Dawn newspaper, Pakistan’s most trusted English daily, reported a gut-wrenching truth: in 2019 alone, 375 newborn babies were found dead, tossed like trash in the streets of Karachi. Three hundred seventy-five tiny lives, snuffed out before they could even cry for their mothers. And that’s just one city, one year. The real number across Pakistan? It’s too painful to guess.
Now compare this to Western countries. There, no baby is labeled "illegitimate" or "bastard." Mothers can hold their children close, supported by laws and communities that cherish every life. Teenage moms can choose adoption without fear, knowing their babies will find loving homes. Why? Because there are no bloodthirsty punishments for love or mistakes. Life is valued, not condemned.
But in Pakistan, Islamic rulings make this impossible.
Moreover, look at this Islamic Ruling:
Muwatta Malik Book 41, Hadith 15:
Malik said, "The position with us about a woman who is found to be pregnant and has no husband and she says, 'I was forced,' or she says, 'I was married,' is that it is not accepted from her and the hadd is inflicted on her unless she has a clear proof of what she claims about the marriage or that she was forced or she comes bleeding if she was a virgin or she calls out for help so that someone comes to her and she is in that state or what resembles it of the situation in which the violation occurred." He said, "If she does not produce any of those, the hadd is inflicted on her and what she claims of that is not accepted from her."
And the largest Fatwa Website (run by Saudi Salafi Muftis) Islam Q&A writes in its fatwa (link):
Rape is essentially zina (fornication or adultery) and is proven in the same way as zina is proven, which is with four witnesses. The punishment is one hundred lashes if the man was a virgin and stoning if he was previously married ... Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: She is not to be punished if it is proven that he forced her and overpowered her. That may be known from her having screamed and shouted for help. (Al-Istidhkaar, 7/146 ) ...
Can you imagine the terror of a raped woman, or even a small girl, trying to meet these impossible demands? Most rapes happen in secret, far from witnesses. Blood doesn’t always show, and shame silences cries for help. Worse, most women don’t even know these rules exist. Their first instinct is to hide, to protect themselves from families who might kill them in the name of "Ghairah" (honor). And what about little girls raped by their fathers, brothers, uncles, or mullahs in Quran schools? How can a child scream loud enough or show blood in public to save herself from lashes or death?
This isn’t justice. It’s a system that crushes the innocent.
And it doesn’t stop there. The fear of these laws drives 2.25 million women to illegal abortions every year in Pakistani hospitals (link). That’s 2.25 million lives ended before they could begin, all because mothers know they can’t keep their babies in a society that punishes love with death. Without these cruel laws, so many of these women would have held their children close, loved them, raised them. But fear stole that chance.
Then there’s the horror of honor killings. In just three years, 2,000 girls were murdered in Pakistan for suspected relationships with boys (link). Two thousand young women, their dreams and futures erased, all in the name of "Ghairah." And that’s only the cases we know about. Countless others are tortured in silence, beaten or locked away by their own families, their pain hidden from the world. Boys, too, are killed for daring to love, their deaths counted separately, their stories just as tragic.
No one knows the full scale of this suffering. How many girls endure unspeakable abuse in the name of honor? How many families turn on their own daughters, sisters, and wives, driven by a twisted sense of shame? The numbers we have are just the surface of a deep, dark wound.
You can’t cage human nature with laws that thirst for blood. Love, desire, and connection are part of being human, but Islam’s harsh rulings try to stamp them out. They don’t protect families; they tear them apart. They don’t honor life; they destroy it. Every dead baby, every aborted dream, every murdered girl screams the same truth: these laws are not about God or morality. They’re about control, and they’re breaking Pakistan’s heart.
We can’t stay silent. These mothers, these girls, these babies deserve better. They deserve a world where love isn’t a crime, where a child’s life isn’t a curse, where a woman’s voice is heard. Pakistan must face this pain and choose humanity over cruelty. The world is watching, and our silence is betrayal. Let’s stand for those who can’t, for the babies lost, for the mothers broken, for the girls silenced. Their lives demand our outrage, our action, our love.
Hassan Radwan