Daily Times

No matter how strong, words begin to lose their meaning when repeated like a mantra, over and over and over again. So, when Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah claims he has taken “serious notice” of the said rape of a 10-year-old right under his nose, he fails to enthuse any faith in the resolve. Suspects may have been arrested for now, but a country marred with an abysmal 0.2 per cent conviction rate cannot be expected to keep them behind bars for much longer.

That the gross perpetrators chose a flood victim taking refuge near the much-revered shrine of the Saviour Saint to satiate their lust doubles the heart-wrenching tragedy. Because while the most conservative of estimates cries about the unsafe conditions targetting at least one woman every two hours, the criminals walking among us do not differentiate between the battered and the bruised. And why would they? Wasn’t it just last month when horrific details of yet another flood victim allegedly raped under the pretence of ration had made rounds on social media; fuelling heated propaganda on the other side of the border?

With their eyes set on each and every helpless victim, may they be in a cradle or a coffin, walking on the road or sitting inside houses, there remains little hope attached to the condition of women’s safety and sovereignty. We are running towards the title of the rape capital of the world, but that too is old news.

Our anti-women bias in the criminalisation process, starting from the complaint at a local police station all the way to the courtrooms, the writing on the wall suggests the complicity of the state and shameful ignorance by the society. Pakistan has repeatedly been urged by international bodies to consider the dire implications of being slated as the second-worst country when it comes to gender parity.

However, the question of whether we would ever pull our heads out of the sand hangs heavy in the air. If the authorities refuse to rattle out of their complacency to take charge and grant–at least–children the fundamental right to protection (guaranteed by their constitution), how can they keep up with the rest of their long, long list of promises? *