Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani has been appointed to the position of Minister of Education in the Pakistan Cabine. He previously was charged with presiding over a “jirga” at which he gave away five young girls as a form of compensation. The girls ranged in age from two to five, and this man is expected to be a leader in the field of education! A colleague, Irarullah Zehri, was appointed to the position of handling postal services. He recently made headlines for defending the burying alive of five women in an “honor killing” claim. In defending the burial of the girls, he said: “these are centuries -old traditions nd I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid. According to Samar Minallah a human rights campaigner, “it is a very clear message from the government that they don’t care about these things. Ironically, Bijarani is a powerful figure in the supposedly progressive Pakistan People’s Party which once was led by Benazir Bhutto.

There is no question if Bhutto was alive today she would have opposed the selection of two such men, but her husband apparently believes a 21st century nation can have its education system headed by a medieval minded anti-feminine bigot.