It is very unfortunate that women are not safe anywhere in the country.  At times when the nation has been making hue and cry over the F-9 Park rape case, other young women in her early 20s was gang-raped in the suburbs of Islamabad, the Capital police said.

Yes, the victim has registered an FIR at the Kirpa police station, saying two armed persons raped their daughter at gun point in her house. Now this is the extreme of lawlessness as in latest case, the girl was raped within her house after the criminals raided her residence. According to FIR, the rapists are the relatives of her husband, who also beat her up after the rape. Two rape incidents within spans of two weeks in the capital city indicate the dangerous state of affairs for women folk in our country.

Meanwhile, the capital police on Wednesday said that they have traced the suspects of the F-9 Park rape incident. But the real thing is the police should arrest him and raid their hideout before they leave it The police claimed that the criminals were identified with the help of Safe City and geo-fencing.

There seems to be no light at the end of tunnel for Pak women.

The recent times have proved to be harrowing for women who are not only subjected to all sorts of human rights violations and crimes but also killed with impunity under the cover of various excuses arising out of victims blaming mainly the honour killings.

There is very little mercy shown for women victims of rape and even domestic violence. One would agree with human rights activists who said that the cases are on the rise as the perpetrators are not given exemplary punishment. One feels for loss of words when looking at the plight of women who are not falling prey to crimes but also the subsequent victims-blaming culture while the perpetrators go scot free. No place is safe for them which is evident form the rising cases of rape and murder across the country.   The circumstances surrounding the murder of this gang-rape victim speaks volume. Burdened by such glairing incidents, the criminals are on the rampage in society which is evident from the fact that even teens and toddlers are not safe from the rapists.

The two above-mentioned cases illustrate the major cause why the crime of rape is so boldly committed in our society. The reason is victim- blaming and no punishment for the rapists in majority of cases. It is due to victim’s blaming which place the blame on the women for ‘bringing’ the crime on themselves for wearing inappropriate clothes or moving freely etc in the society that most victims and their families avoid reporting the  cases to avoid stigma and further torture in the form of slur against the victims which is evident from the existing numbers i.e., with an estimated nine out of 10 cases are not reported or registered.

Most of the cases are brushed aside and buried in the patriarchal society where silencing the victims is norm of the day.

To be very specific, we are living in a misogynistic society where  such mindset should be change for the better.

Human rights activists attribute such incidents to the prevailing culture of impunity for gender based violence and crimes which go unpunished most of the times.

They say that women’s assault cases may turn into national crisis as during the current govt, there is an unprecedented rise in women’s rape and assault cases across the country in recent months.

The exact figures of rape cases in the county are not available. However, according to Human Rights Watch report few years back, one woman is raped every two hours in Pakistan.

Punjab is on top of such cases, may be it is the most populous province of the county.

 As per the Research, over 70 cases of rape, including 5 gang-rape cases, were reported in Lahore by February last year.

Last month, a woman was allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted by a university student in the underpass of the Metro Bus Station in Rawalpindi.

Last year, a mother of two, who had come from Lahore for a job in Rawalpindi, was allegedly raped in the garrison city.

Moreover, a 35-year-old woman along with her 15-year-old daughter - residents of Okara -were raped by a rickshaw driver.  Before that, a 51-year old woman from Mazaffargarh in Punjab, was stripped and paraded in the streets.

One is shocked and aghast at the ordeals of such women, who are not safe while performing routine chores in the society.

According to latest reports, Pakistan has become the sixth most dangerous country of the world for women.

 According to Women rights activists, there is very ow conviction rate of rapists. Just imagine only two percent rapists are convicted in the country, the rest are scot free.

The irony is that our leader like the former PM Imran Khan himself has on various occasion has openly the unprecedented rise in such cases on women’s dress code.

When he was the Prime Minister, he made headlines when he said that women who do not fully cover up their bodies in front of men are the cause of rise in rape cases as men are not the robots.

“Not every man has willpower. If you keep on increasing vulgarity, it will have consequences,” former PM Imran Khan said during a television interview. He further said women should adhere to “purdah”.

He then openly blamed women for tempting men with not wearing proper dresses; His words has emboldened the criminals to justify rape and assault of women.

It is to be noted that an ugly patron of victim blaming starts after each and every rape or women’s assault case in our society.

Our history is littered with cases where rape victims are  blamed for the crimes against them. For instance, Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang-raped, and paraded named in a village in Punjab, was flayed by the then former President Gen Musharraf (late)  whose comments suggested that women got themselves raped with a view go going abroad.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 17 2023

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