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Lately, there are some trending hashtags to be seen on social media such as #JusticeForZainab. After the Zainab’s case another popular hashtag to be seen is #JusticeForAbida.
Abida Ahmed was a 25-year-old student MA (English) at Faisalabad Government College University. She went missing four days ago on her way to the university. Her body was fished out of a stream on Wednesday. According to her autopsy report, her body bore marks of torture because she was raped and strangled to death. Abida’s family stated that they requested the police to register a case when she went missing but the police refused and said them to inform them when she is found. Another non-serious behavior of the Punjab police.
Fear has gripped the second largest city of Punjab as 26 bodies have been found in past three months. After the whole chaos of Zainab’s case, the people were relieved that there wouldn’t be other cases like this. A case in which an innocent doesn’t suffer and a case in which the police caught the culprit on time. Zainab was raped and she lost her life to make the state wake up, but it kept sleeping. Now this heinous news coming from the hometown of RanaSanaullah has struck everyone with terror when an MA University student was raped and strangled to death.
Rape in Pakistan has been notable and continues to be a tool for suppressing women in the country, as 93% of Pakistani women experience sexual violence. Only in January 2018, there are a lot of cases to be observed. A 7-year-old girl Zainab Ansari was raped and strangulated to death in Kasur. The incident caused nationwide outrage in Pakistan. The same month, a 16-year-old girl was raped and killed in Sargodha, and a day later, in the same city, a 13-year-old boy was intoxicated and sexually assaulted by 2 men belonging to the influential family.
In Faisalabad, the same day, a 15-year-old boy was found dead. The later medical reports confirmed a sexual assault. A few days later, the dead body of a 3 or 4-year-old girl, named Asma, was found in Mardan, who has been reported missing for 24 hours. Her post-mortem reports points out that she has been raped before her murder. These are the only cases of January and there may be others cases that might not be reported. Because rape in our society is a taboo, people don’t talk about it, including the victims themselves.
The question arises here that why is it not stopping? Who should we blame? Who should we ask for justice? Because it seems like there is no one who would listen. Everyone is busy in the game of power.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), an incident of rape occurs every 2 hours and an innocent victim is gang-raped every 4 to 8 days. The reports are a serious blot on the Islamic society of Pakistan. Pakistan is among 10 worst countries when it comes to rape cases. Why is all of this happening in an Islamic society? The country is called the Islamic Republic of Pakistan but are there any Islamic teachings being implemented? What kind of society is this in which girls are being raped and there is no justice for them? This is also because people had gone away from the basic religious values. Women contain a great importance in Islam but are they given the same importance in the country? Women are working in every field as men are but they have not given the equal rights and respect.
In our male dominant society, if the wife is more educated or doing a more stable job than her husband, her husband will feel pressured by the society. Because how could a wife be on a higher rank from her husband, the society cannot accept this. In our 21st century, there are many violence cases, harassment cases, rape cases in Pakistan. These cases are common in rural areas of Pakistan but they have not been reported to the police and the families take them as their private matter.
A huge proportion of Pakistani families are educating their daughters but most of them just wanted to educate them, as education has become a necessity in life. They do not want their daughters to think about doing jobs or making their career. Because they have accepted the harsh reality of our society that it is not safe for their daughters to go outside, they don’t want to send them outside unless it is necessary. The girls are being sexually harassed in every aspect of life. Some are being harassed while traveling in public transport, some while doing their jobs, in their education centers. The honor and dignity of a female is endangered and no women are safe.
As cases like Abida appears after every passing day, the parents are having second thoughts to whether to send their daughters to schools and colleges. They’re terrified as they don’t want their daughters to be another Zainab or Abida.
For how long the women of Pakistan will suffer? For how long will they suppress their cries? How long will they hide these heinous truths for the honors of their father and brothers? How long will the honor-killing consider as a private matter? Are their lives so worthless? And how long the government will turn a blind eye on these issues? Is the notice taken by Shahbaz Sharif or Bilawal Bhutto enough for us? Why aren’t the women in parliament raising these issues? Why Marium Nawaz being a mother herself hadn’t done anything about it? Maybe that’s because it is all about the game of the throne. All the game of power. That’s all that these politicians want, no one is willing to be a public leader as all of them had to turn a blind eye on the issues from which the people of Pakistan is suffering.
We live in a society in where if a woman wanted to raise voice for her rights people called her a “liberal” or “feminist”. A society which teaches you Don’t Get Raped instead of Don’t Rape. People are willing to talk about some actress smoking cigarette but they’re not willing to raise their voice for the discrimination against the daughters of Pakistan. Who is being raped, harassed by the criminals who’re moving freely in the society? If the leaders aren’t concerned about our problems then we can resolve our issues by ourselves. Like how the people pressured the government to catch the criminals of Zainab. Instead of fighting with each other now is the time for the nation to unite together and fight for the rights of their daughters, their mothers and for their sister and for every other woman who is being subjected to those horrific crimes.
“Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.” (Nelson Mandela)
