By: Nayab Iqbal
Every day is a new challenge being a woman in Pakistan. Recently, a video of a man, Usman Mirza, rapping an innocent girl, assaulting the couple, and blackmailing them got viral. The incident sparked national outrage and condemnation on social media, and the culprit was arrested. However, this is just one incident that came out. We may not even be aware of several similar incidents since violence against women continues to remain an everyday phenomenon in the country.
There is a dire need to improve and speed up the investigation process and expedite the justice for the victims.
Victim blaming, a constant, repetitive, and illogical debate on vulgarity, and questioning women’s dressing have normalized a culture where men cannot be expected to control their impulses. As a result, women are indirectly, or sometimes even directly, held responsible for heinous crimes like rape, physical assault, and harassment.
Recently, the Prime Minister made a highly controversial statement suggesting that the onus lies on women and men are not “robots” to not react if a woman is not “dressed properly.” The Capital Chief Police Officer of Punjab made a comment of the same nature after the motorway gang rape incident last year. The callous questions, such as, “Why was she out on the Motorway so late without a brother or husband?” and “Why didn’t she check her gas tank before leaving the house?”, reflects a deep-rooted rape apologist’s mindset, which is not only common among the masses but unfortunately also among those in the leadership position.
The increasing violence issues against women cannot be merely solved by ensuring a severe punishment of the culprit, but by realizing that the moment the society questions women and ask them to “dress up modestly” to prevent temptation, it empowers perpetrators like Usman Mirza to commit abhorring crimes without any fear of being punished. The rape apologist’s mindset communicates a message to the criminals that they would not be held accountable since the burden of preventing temptation lies on women.
After such horrific incidents of rape and assault, the entire debate must revolve around developing mechanisms and improving law and order situations to ensure the protection of women. The condemnation after the motorway rape case resulted in some anti-rape measures, such as creating a national sex offenders register and allowing chemical castration of some offenders. However, considering the severity, frequency, and nature of the crimes committed against women, these measures hardly seem to bring a real change. According to the official statistics, at least 11 rape cases are reported in Pakistan every day. In the past six years, more than 22,000 rape cases were reported across the country, out of which only 77 accused were convicted. Such a low conviction rate demonstrates a sorry state of justice in the country.
There is a dire need to improve and speed up the investigation process and expedite the justice for the victims. However, instead of taking measures like forced chemical castration that would do little to repair the flawed justice system and violate Pakistan’s international obligations of prohibiting inhumane punishment, the focus must be on identifying and solving the root causes of sexual violence in the country. Besides, there is a need to shift the discourse on violence against women from victim-blaming to constantly highlighting the loopholes in the law and security situation, demanding timely conviction of the culprit, and empathizing with the victim.
The writer is a Ph.D. scholar and an educationist by profession. Currently, she works as an English Lecturer and a Freelance Writer. She can be reached on Twitter @NayabIqbal12.