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Humanity Buried on Women’s Day

A kid named Hasnain was ghastly assassinated after being sexually assaulted in Gilgit a couple of months back. The shock waves generated by that murder were still in the air and now we have heard of a first-year student being raped in Skardu after being kidnapped. The poor girl was on her way home from her tuition center.

I would like to commend the girl, who after reaching the police station, reported the incident. Her valor is truly meritorious, because she has exposed those beasts and jostled the society at large. She may have blocked the path for many such nefarious designs of future rapists by approaching the law to seek justice.

This is definitely not the first incident of its kind, but it has certainly enabled the public to rally around the survivor seeking justice, hopefully followed by deep reflections on deterioration of our social fabric.

In our daily lives, we have been hearing stories about sexual assaults in whispering voices which soon drown and vanish in the cacophony of the society. Many families or victims do not approach the police for fear of public humiliation, being ridiculed and looked at with suspicion. Many a time people also do not approach the police on account of the severe trust deficit between the police and public. Justice in cases of rape is rare. Instead, in many cases victims have to prove that they actually were raped, which is disgusting to say the least.

All these factors give a free hand to rapists, molesters and eve-teasers who roam in the streets, tormenting girls and women. Such cases are increasing with the passage of time in different parts of Gilgit-Baltistan, and it is a point for deep reflection and course-correction.

This incident has raised many questions. How many of such cases before were resolved? How many of them were exculpated due to political and other interventions? How can such incidents be tolerated in a small city like Skardu?? Isn’t the city administration responsible for giving ample time to coaching centers? But these questions have remained unanswered from day one.

Che Guevara said, “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”. Shockingly, instead of pushing us to resistance, such incidents become causes of slowly fading debates, which remain inconclusive most of the time. Action is what we lack.

Just a sentence to condemn such an immoral incidence is not enough. Let’s be practical, start from ourselves, project self-accountability and recognize our individual responsibilities as first steps against these ridiculous blunders. Hanging them may be the solution, but strengthening the institutions to eradicate these notions is indeed long-term solution.

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