'I Want Women To Have Rights Like Men,' Says Lawyer In Pakistan's Swat Valley
A dozen lawyers are helping other women in the Swat Valley with divorce, custody and inheritance cases. Some of the women lawyers defied the Taliban to study law and continue to endure threats.
The woman in the brown burqa stood at the gate of court complex as men in suits shouldered past. With one hand, she clutched her son, and in the other, a piece of paper scrawled with a name.
The district police officer gave it to her when she complained about her husband's abuse. He told her to present it at the entrance of the sprawling court administration that serves the Swat Valley. Noorshad Begum couldn't read it, being illiterate.
She handed it to a court guard.
He immediately strode toward the woman whose name was scrawled on the slip: Mehnaz. She was easily identifiable — the only female lawyer there on a recent spring day, wearing a a black
