Much of the hue and cry over patriarchy in Pakistan comes from the so-called power houses of feminism that insist on painting the picture of gender inequality in this country with a single brushstroke.The latter rally for absolute freedom and independence of the subjugated sex, namely women. Yet they tend to forget that when a man aims to restrict the movement of women within the family — this often has little to do with exercising power based on notions of male superiority. In reality, it is more often than not a reflection of his own insecurity.
Sadly, Pakistan is home to a society that lacks tolerance, humanism and education; not to mention respect for the rule of law. A case in point is the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl. According to preliminary investigations, Zainab was kidnapped around a week ago while she made her way unaccompanied to a Quran class.It seems that no one was expected to escort her home; with her extended family raising the alarm after she failed to return. Her parents were, at the time, in Saudi Arabia performing Umrah.
This is a slightly unusual case. For typically, family members are criticised when they forbid a girl from venturing out un-chaperoned. This, we are told, is against her fundamental right of freedom of movement. However, here it seems that it was familial neglect that ended up costing Zainab her life; while sentencing her parents to a lifetime of infinite grief. And here is the paradox. This young girl child should not have been allowed to go out on her own. Not because of familial conservatism — but because of the sheer backwardness of the society in which she was living.
Unfortunately, this is the not the first time that a minor has been raped and murdered in Pakistan. Indeed, in Kasur alone, where Zainab was from, some 12 children have met similar fates. Moreover, police believe that the same individual was responsible for around half of these crimes. Meaning that he is still out there posing a risk to the local community.
Meanwhile, civil society took to the streets to protest the government’s failure to respond promptly to what had happened. The latter lived up to the charges against it; for unable to handle the street agitation the police were given orders to open fire on the crowd in a bid to disperse it. And so it was that two more lives were lost.
We should not need a Qandeel or a Zainab to get protective laws on the books. We should understand that unimplemented legislation is no weapon in the fight to curb crime rates. Moreover, it is about time that the Punjab government wake up and learn the lessons of the Model Town massacre
All of this must bring us to a double realisation. Firstly, we cannot complain about men restricting the freedom of movement of women unless and until we build a society where women’s protection and safety is ensured. Thus the most urgent issue is not one of gender inequality and oppression — but of security and defence. Only when the latter are guaranteed can we move on to ideological factors such as feminism and the patriarchy. Be that as it may, this is not to discount the interconnectivity of all these issues. It is just to stress the need to proceed cautiously, step-by-step.
Secondly, it is not enough to table motions before the assemblies, with the Senate taking notice of such brutality in order to safeguard against similar incidents being overlooked in the future. In addition, we should not need a Qandeel or a Zainab to get protective laws on the books. We should understand that unimplemented legislation is no weapon in the fight to curb crime rates.
Rather, if we continue with this misguided approach — we will never see the rule of law prevail. The Punjab government, for its part, should wake up and learn the lessons of the Model Town bloodshed; it should certainly not be repeating past mistakes. And it must also keep in mind that it is neither a dictatorship nor a monarchical set-up but, rather, a democratically elected government.
As such, it is tasked with protecting the citizenry; not doing them harm. The country can ill afford to plunger further into a state of ‘lawlessness’, especially given that our law enforcement agencies have already proved unable to deliver what is expected of them.
Hence, justice must be delivered while keeping intact social cohesion. In other words, the best way that we can honour the victims is to penalise those who have blood on their hands in such a way as to act as a real deterrent. What we do not need is to witness different institutions simply passing the buck. For this does not bring accountability.
The writer is Falak Sufi Scholar at Hagop Kevorkian Centre for Near Eastern. Currently pursuing a Masters degree at New York University
Published in Daily Times, January 15th 2018.