The Peshawar High Court has ordered the law enforcers to ensure security for the girl paraded naked in a D I Khan village. As the court proceeds with the trial, we hope that those responsible for this crime will soon be brought to justice. But punishment for the culprits will not be enough to serve justice to the victim. For true justice in this incident, the authorities concerned need to identify and fix that the underlying social conditions that enable such crimes. It should be obvious that such a crime cannot be committed in broad daylight without complicity of locally influential men. In remote areas like the D.I. Khan village, the influence of these men comes from their disproportionate control over economic activities and resources. These locally influential men eventually end up controlling politics parties’ organisations as well as elected institutions. It isn’t for nothing that a PTI leader is accusing another of having played a role in the crime. While the specific allegation will be investigated over the course of the court proceedings, the instrumental role of influential men remains a fact of the matter in crimes where women’s bodies are violated, and patriarchal codes of honour and shame are invoked. The foregoing means that justice for the victim in D.I. Khan and for Pakistani women who seek enjoy all basic rights and liberties flowing from the country’s constitution will require that the authorities pay attention to ways through which regressive and patriarchal codes of honour and shame can be tackled. This will necessarily be a long drawn out process and it will involve reforms in the economy that empower women and in the education sector that socialise Pakistani young adults into progressive sensibilities. In the short-term, a review of all laws that regulate family affairs and crimes against women must be carried out. It is a welcome relief that the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights has also taken up the issue. The committee must pay attention to the factors identified here if it is serious about fixing the problem. The responsibility also lies with liberal and progressive activists associated with political parties as well as civil society organisations. They should keep pressure on the authorities until log-term reforms are enacted, leading to real change on the ground. Justice here will require us to undo conditions that enable crimes against women’s bodies and to ensure that public spaces are safe for them. * Published in Daily Times, November 22nd 2017.