A country with secrets The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor. We live in a country where secrets of various kinds lurk in the corners of our lives. There are secrets of life within households. We simply fail to acknowledge the extent of domestic violence which takes place in homes, directed against the weakest members of the family. These include children, women, and in an increasing number of cases, the elderly. Very few speak out about rape within households, or abuse that takes place amongst family members. Yet all these incidents have occurred. The prime minister's strange insinuation that purdah would prevent this is curious, since it will certainly not prevent small children from being abused within their own homes, or their schools. Nor is there any evidence that it will protect women, since the few studies carried out suggest that even women who are fully veiled and who use the chaadar, suffer harassment or molestation on public transport and in bazaars as often as those who choose not to. The victim, of course, should never be blamed for the crime.