From their houses to the homes of their friends to public gatherings, women are considered as the easiest target everywhere. Despite swift arrests, the criminals typically succeed in eluding the law.
It can be simple to forget that Pakistan has been dealing with a crisis of violence against women for some time amid the daily drama provided by the nation’s politics. Just a few recent headline-grabbing incidents are sufficient to demonstrate the terrible trajectory this has taken. Additionally, we haven’t even included the daily abuse that women experience, the news-missing stories, or the numerous women who battle to simply exist, let alone live. The most recent horror story is from Faisalabad and was first documented in two videos of a young woman allegedly being abused at the direction of a powerful local businessman.
Every time a woman is the victim of assault, it seems as though the savagery in our culture reaches new heights. The videos in the Faisalabad case depict the most horrible brutality, torture, and humiliation. The fact that a woman had to endure all of that simply for rejecting a man’s request illustrates how nonexistent the ideals of consent, equality, and respect are for women in Pakistan.
The young woman, a final-year dental student, was kidnapped, subjected to extortion, and sexually assaulted by 15 suspects, according to the Faisalabad women’s police station. There is a video of the victim clearing the Faisalabad businessman who is in the centre of the crime of all culpability right now, almost as if it were preordained. In case anyone forgets, the country’s judicial and legal system is infamous for being indifferent to the extreme vulnerability of victims and their families. Either victims are so uneasy about testifying against the offenders that they choose not to, or victims’ relatives are intimidated and put under a lot of pressure when pursuing such cases.
It cannot be emphasized enough that those responsible in these incidents must answer to the law. Additionally, the state is in charge of providing total protection to all witnesses, victims, and their families.
From their houses to the homes of their friends to public gatherings, women are considered as the easiest target everywhere. Despite swift arrests, the criminals typically succeed in eluding the law. According to official data from the Ministry of Human Rights, more than 14,000 rape cases were reported in Pakistan during the course of the previous four years. Over the course of four years, there have been more than 16,000 instances of sexual abuse and harassment against women. The innumerable cases that go unreported are not counted in these statistics. Even though these crimes are occurring more often, successive governments have been powerless to stop them.
Demanding that the state start treating women as equal citizens and ensure that they have access to equal justice and equal laws in accordance with the constitution is the only way to go forward. We might begin by simply accepting the notion that women are neither things nor creatures to be protected or controlled. They are people, thus hurting them must have a price.
