Dushanbe, September 26: It was a short SMS that tore down Nodira’s years-long marital life. “I was shocked after reading that SMS,” the 29-year-old told.
The Muslim woman got the shock of her life after receiving a divorce SMS from her husband, who left for Russia years ago for a better job.
“I instantly thought it was a mistake or someone’s evil joke,” said the grieving mother.
“I had bad thoughts in my mind, I wanted to hang or drown myself, or drink vinegar from such shame.” Waiting for her immigrant husband for years, Nodira never imagined that her marriage would end up with the short ring declaring arrival of a new message.
“What did I do wrong?” Nodira wonders.
“This question is still torturing me. I was looking after my husband’s parents, was cleaning the yard, washing, cooking for a big family. Everything was on me all these years.”
Tajikistan, one of the five Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union, won independence in 1991.
The poorest state in Central Asia, it has been trying to modernize since a civil war in the 1990s, pushing thousands of Tajiks to seek better job chances abroad.
“This whole problem with divorces appeared with the beginning of labor migration in Tajikistan in the beginning of the 1990s,” said Dorsultan Shonazirova, a lawyer specializing in women’s rights issues.
Muslims constitute nearly 90 percent of Tajikistan’s 7.2 million population, according to the CIA factbook.
Dilemma
For Tajik women, divorce means the start of a dilemma as many lack proper documentation of their marriage.
“Not all the girls had official registration of their marriages,” Shonazirova said.
“But in the event of divorce the law should protect their rights to obtain alimony for their children and to split their household in half.”
Khalima Shamsova, 24, was separated from her husband after clashing with his family.
Angry with her, her husband divorced her via an SMS, leaving her to care for their nine-month-old daughter on her own.
“It was scary in the beginning that I had to raise my kid without her father,” Shamsova said.
After some time, Shamsova started to adapt to her life as a divorced woman.
“God is merciful, I have my hands and feet and I’ll go to work as a yard-keeper, if it’s possible.
“I won’t allow my daughter’s early marriage. I won’t let her go through what I did.
“I’ll let her get an education and find a profession.”
-Agencies