Baghdad, July 25: It is the height of summer now and the light fades late in Baghdad at 8.30 or even later. But if you are foolish enough to want to take a walk in the cooler evening weather, do so at your own peril.
On my first day in Baghdad, as I step out unawares out of my hotel, forgetting to look at the time and still under the impression that it is early evening because of the brightness of the sunshine, I get my first shock. Sadun Street, a busy commercial centre adjacent to the Palestine Hotel, is almost deserted. Cars on the road are few and far between and almost all shops have shut. Yet it is only 7 pm. Though shops and restaurants shut in most areas of Baghdad these days by 6 pm, I discover that in Sadun Street, despite it being in the heart of the capital, shops shut even earlier, by 3 or 4 pm, and some open only for a couple of hours or not at all. Sadun Street, I learn later, is especially vulnerable because it is near the areas of Bab Al Sherji and Rashid Street where looters once ran rampant and where they still hang out, and it is a notorious area for carjackings and for having your valuables robbed and worse. Travelling through these two areas in broad daylight you cannot find a single building with any signs of life, everyone except the looters has long since fled. And while Palestine Hotel near Sadun Street feels a little more secure as it is guarded by US marines, as is the neighbouring Sheraton, commercial establishments in Sadun Street and other hotels do not enjoy the same privilege.

I get my second shock as I step out onto the street and find a man almost about to run me down. He gestures at me to get into the car and, though I might be forgiven for mistaking him for a cabbie, as most cab drivers are moonlighting and don't drive the official white cabs with orange stripes but rather their own rundown jalopies, something about him doesn't seem right and I step back on to the pavement.

As he drives away shouting something unintelligible the hotel receptionist comes out and warns me not to get into private cabs even though they may offer cheaper fares, in fact not to get into cabs at all but to hire my own car. Thinking he is out to make a deal of his own, I ignore him and luckily find a cab with an aged driver, an official one this time. When I ask him whether the receptionist's warnings are true, he regales me with all kinds of scary stories of women kidnapped from their homes and raped and a ransom demanded before they were returned. He drops me off at an Internet café, many of which are flourishing in Baghdad today, and the people there seem surprised to see a woman out this late. I am the object of intense scrutiny and am eyed covertly, as I am a foreigner, wearing Western clothes, but once the café owner learns I am from India, it is another story. He displays Shahrukh Khan, who smiles out at me as a screensaver on one of his computers, shows me CDs of Daler Mehndi and offers me tea and water, accompanied by numerous questions.



I understand that Indians are enormously popular in Iraq, and he questions me as to why India refused to send troops to take care "of the security problem". When I explain about requiring a UN mandate, he shushes me, "UN no good." He refuses payment for my use of his computer, and chides me for being out so late: "Sister, many bad people now, be careful." When I wait outside I realise what he means. Cars full of young men hanging out through the windows pass by me, with the young men shouting endearments or abuse, thank God I don't understand which, honking loudly and gesticulating. Such things would have been unthinkable in Saddam's time, as the only man allowed to prey on women was his son Uday (supposedly killed a few days ago).



As I walk down a side street, I can feel my hair stand on end as it is deathly quiet, yet you can feel the men watching you intently from doorways. When I go back to the hotel, the manager is all concern, and suggests politely that women are safer if they wear a scarf and dress in the Islamic way, as they will not draw notice. I understand his views somewhat when I learn that he is Shia, but it is true that many women are opting to wear a scarf these days if not the full hijab, not only because it has become quite fashionable to do so, but because they are advised to do so by their elders so as not to give the slightest provocation to these bands of marauding young men.



Many young women are afraid to go out of the house at all and refuse to go out alone these days. They are usually accompanied by their mothers or a male relative. Young women studying in universities have only gone to attend their exams because they were afraid they may lose a year. Many women are even afraid to go to the market or to their jobs. Many others have no jobs to go back to anyway after the ministries and other buildings were burnt or looted. Those who possess cars are afraid of having their cars robbed from under them and those who use public transport are afraid of much worse.



There have been at least 25 reported cases of rape and sexual assault in Baghdad alone according to Human Rights Watch and most cases go unreported as women are too ashamed of the social stigma that may follow and are afraid of setting off a wave of honour killings.



The wave of Islamic consciousness sweeping Iraq thanks to some political parties has also left many women fearful. Rita, my Iraqi Christian interpreter, says her Shia neighbours have never made any protest against her short skirts "but God knows what will happen in the future. I have stopped wearing any make-up so as not to attract the wrong kind of attention. Before, I went out with my husband and partied and rarely returned before 2 am, now I only talk to my neighbours through the window. My husband also returns early and prefers to stay indoors, anyway, there is nowhere to go now, all the restaurants are closed". She says she has heard terrible stories from relatives in Basra of families being hounded for drinking or dealing in alcohol even on feast days.



A senior leader from one of the prominent Shia political parties told me that they believed firmly in the rights of minorities and women but added in the next breath that though they would not force women to wear a scarf in the future they would advise her to do so for her own good and that alcohol is an evil that is frowned upon not only by Islam but in many other cultures. He also condemned satellite television and said it would give women immoral ideas. Many girls' schools have seen strange men entering the premises asking teachers and students not to talk to the Americans as they are a bad influence and to dress in a befitting way.



The police and US troops have neither the resources nor the courage to follow up such complaints since the issue is an extremely sensitive one. And no one trusts the police much anyway. They say, "Police and Ali Baba (thieves) same same." In fact, one night I stopped a police patrol car outside my hotel as I was worried about some Indian journalist colleagues who had not returned past midnight from a nearby hotel where they had gone for dinner. I was worried that the police may have something to do with it, since they were in violation of the curfew, which begins at 11 pm in Baghdad, and asked them to enquire at the nearby hotel if they were still there but the police seemed completely unwilling to step out of the car even to go and enquire at the hotel's front desk.



They seemed more afraid of being set upon by looters than the other way round and it seemed highly unlikely that they would step up to help women in distress in any neighbourhood if they received a complaint after dark. Women members on the new governing council have more important matters on their hands but say women's safety is something they intend to highlight in the future. But in the meantime, as women sit at home and wait and watch, this is not the freedom many women had bargained for in the new Iraq.



(The writer is on a visit to Iraq and is the only Indian journalist in that country at present. She shall report exclusively for The Pioneer for the duration of her stay there.)