A Review (or something) of Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders

Of course our comic is not the only educational comic on forced marriage out there. Another example is Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders by Samar Minallah Khan, Imran Azhar, Babrus Khan, and Rabiya Waheed. It is part of a Pakistani comic book series that aims to contribute to social change. In addition to speaking out against child marriage, the series focuses on deforestation and climate change, drugs and substance abuse, acid attacks, and polio. How amazing is that?! 

I was very excited when my copy of Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders arrived one fine Saturday morning. Nevertheless, I put it on the coffee table, intending to have my breakfast in blissful ignorance of all the horrible things outside my living room. Needless to say, 5 minutes later, the comic lay open in my lap and my tea was getting cold. 

Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders starts by introducing Team Muhafiz as “a group of teenagers [who] volunteered to revive an old and failing Muhafiz Youth Centre … They fell in love with the local community. And now they come every day to coach sports and teach music and dancing. Whenever they see injustice and cruelty, they stand up against it with the help of their friends.” Superheroes. 

Throughout the story, the comic introduces the members of Team Muhafiz. There is Elaha who coaches a girls’ football team; Mahnur volunteers as a martial arts trainer; dancer Aarya ;Qani wants to make a difference and loves to cook; Qani’s childhood friend Cheeku; Parinaaz is a law student and human rights activist who is passionate about hockey; daydreamer, guitarist, and frisbee player Reza; “and then there is Zane … Well, Zane is… Zane”. He definitely likes cricket. They all come from different professional, social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, showing that a diverse group of people can be friends and work together towards a common goal. Yes! 

Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders is split into two storylines, one about extortion by and the brutality of local gangs and the drug mafia, and one about child marriage. Oh joy. Some light Saturday morning reading.  

In the story about child marriage, 13-year old Safiya is the star in Elaha’s football team. All her hard work and hours and hours of practice pay off when, after a particularly successful match she is offered a place at the training camp of the national junior football team.  

However, Safiya knows that another match prevents her from attending the training camp. That match is one of marriage made for her by members of her community to settle a dispute over the murder of a man committed by Safiya’s uncle. The Jirga, “a council of tribal elders”, decided to “sacrifice” Safiya, to make her “pay the price for [the] crime committed by her uncle” and his subsequent escape by forcing her to marry a male member of the deceased’s family in compensation. The comic explains that vani is a “long-practiced custom [that] is now illegal in Pakistan … and there are strict laws against it[, and that] Pakistan Penal Code’s 310-A criminalizes child marriage in the form of vani”. Any person demanding a compensation marriage must be arrested immediately. However, the comic observes that the practice continues and emphasises that it’s difficult for modern laws to change an age old tradition.  

In the story, Team Muhafiz works with Safiya’s father and the police to persuade the deceased’s family to “take blood money as diyat instead of vani”.  

However, Parinaaz is proven right that “blood money is [not] sufficient … in this case” and the “enmity remains between the men of both families”. At night, “dark figures stealthily approach [Safiya’s] house”. Team Muhafiz steps in to protect Safiya. While Parinaaz, Reza, and Zane fight the armed men outside the house, Elaha follows one of the “thugs”, the man Safiya was promised to, inside and into Safiya’s room. Surefooted, she kicks him to the ground and reassuringly comforts Safiya. However, behind their backs, the thwarted husband’s thirst for revenge brings him to his feet again. He is determined to ensure that “no one will [have Safiya if he can’t have her]”. Driven by the thought of “[losing] face among [his] friends … his hand reaches for his pocket and out comes acid”. As he opens and throws the bottle of acid at Safiya, Elaha steps in to protect her. Even though Elaha “can feel the excruciating pain on her arms [and] smell the flesh burning … she closes her eyes and jumps towards the man [when she hears another bottle being opened]”. 

What a cliff hanger! If anyone knows how I can get hold of the next issue, Team Muhafiz and the Acid Attacks, please let me know! 

Right, deep breath. Fresh cup of tea. What are we thinking about Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders other than:  

Just like the title, the cover does not shroud the comic’s topic behind a veil of inappropriate romanticism. In the background, it shows a party scene with bunting and silhouettes of people mingling. The foreground shows a girl dressed for a wedding, crying, holding a much-loved doll in her folded arms. With a desperate dispair in her expression, her eyes are pleading with the reader. Behind the girl stands an adult man. While his face is only partly visible, his commanding size and full beard indicate his age. His beringed hands are resting on, or gripping, the girl’s shoulders, indicating that he has control over her, is weighing her down.  

The rest of the manga style comic uses bright colours for the members of Team Muhafiz and the children who visit the youth centre, and dark or muted colours for their opponents as well as for Safiya’s brother Aslam, their father, and the policeman who helps them persuade the deceased man’s family to accept blood money instead of a compensation marriage. This makes it easy to identify the good guys and innocent characters in the story. The bright colours bring some positivity to the comic’s rather dark topic.  

Similarly, despite the topic’s seriousness, there are funny moments in the comic, for example the look of shock on Elaha’s face when Aslam picks up a gun and marches out of his family’s house to protect his sister.  

Aslam’s response demonstrates that child marriage does not only impact the direct victims, but also their families. In the beginning of the story, Aslam is sad and angry about Safiya’s impending marriage. He appears to feel responsible or guilty for his sister’s fate. Their interaction after the football match is one of unspoken apologies and forgiveness. Possibly encouraged by the actions of Team Muhafiz, Aslam eventually stands up for his sister and is willing to fight and die for her. Luckily it does not come to that. 

The comic also paints a nuanced picture of Safiya’s father. The story makes clear that he disagrees with the decision of the Jirga. Importantly, he knows that “it’s not [Safiya’s] fault” and thinks she “should [not] suffer for [his] brother’s wrongdoing”. But until Team Muhafiz and the police step in, he feels that “[his] hands are tied”. Unlike Aslam, Safiya’s father lets the policeman take charge though.  

Safiya shares her father’s and brother’s feeling of helplessness. On the way home from the football match, the captions tell the reader that “[they say] no one can help her”. Luckily “they” are proven wrong and Team Muhafiz comes to Safiya’s rescue.  

While Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders places a focus on interventions by outsiders, it offers a realistic portrayal of the complexities of consent and resistance. The captions let the reader know that the Jirga’s decision “has broken [Safiya’s] heart … [but that she] is told that she has no choice.” They also tell the reader that Safiya “understands” and has “accepted her fate and is not scared” before they reveal this as a lie. Coupled with Safiya’s feeling of helplessness, this indicates that she does not consent to her marriage but is pressured into it and makes a choiceless decision to   “sacrifice” herself.  

Safiya’s limited options are shown again when her thwarted husband attacks her in her family’s house. Again, the captions reveal her inner struggles. She “wants to scream … She wants to shout… But instead she just lies still… Hoping that it is just an ugly nightmare… Hoping that it will all go away…” This reflects the reality that people respond differently to danger. Some fight, some run, some freeze, some flop, some call for help. Safiya freezes or flops, but help still comes.  

The comic shows different forms of help given by different people at different points in the story. For example, the policeman helps to persuade the deceased’s family to accept blood money instead of compensation marriage. Team Muhafiz supports Safiya through advocacy, legal advice, emotional support, and direct intervention.  

Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders indicates that this help will enable Safiya to enjoy her childhood, go to school, see her friends, and play her favourite sport. Marriage would have changed her life forever. 

Juxtaposing explanations of the traditional practice of vani with information about its criminalisation in Pakistan Penal Code 310-A, the comic highlights how difficult it is to change customs through legal intervention. Yes, the discussion about what needs to come first, law reform or social change, is well and alive.  

But the comic also sends a message that anyone can achieve anything if they develop their talents. It inspires readers to be courageous, to stand up, speak up, and fight back. “There are many among us who will not stay silent to injustice”. Together we can change the world. 

I could say more about the sometimes subtle signs that provide information about a character’s backgrounds; the powerful way in which the comic uses the characters’ personal history and experiences of injustice to explain their motivations to support Safiya; the clever use of language to create a sense of foreboding; and the well-paced narration that pulls the reader through the story – but I shan’t.  

Instead, I simply applaud the makers of Team Muhafiz and the Child Raiders and thank them for this inspiring contribution to my Saturday morning and my bookshelf. 

Written by Hannah Baumeister