Daily Times

Educating hearts before minds stands indispensable. Modesty lies in the temperament of the observer not in dress code of the subject. I had to revive a study of psychology of bachelors to comprehend the complex debate of connection between dress code and rise in societal frustrations. “Unexpressed emotions never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways,” Sigmund Freud said. Rightly so, frustration being such a strong emotion, if remains unexpressed, often erupts in the foulest way.

Unfortunately, every second day, we as a nation hear about an ill-fated event of child abuse and harassment. It is heart-wrenching to hear reports of abuse of young boys and girls in madrassas, workplaces, educational institutions, on streets and in markets. However, it requires more than an emotional approach to deal and understand the web of outlook that knits our society together. Literacy rate and lack of education seem like the main reasons behind such acts. Circumstances, at times, are to be blamed for an incident, and ignorance and dearth of awareness also carry the weight of responsibility. Whatever reason we come up with to understand these day-by-day cumulative acts, the basis is the mentality of an individual carrying out the act, not the one subjected to it. A victim’s clothing, behaviour or any kind of physical appearance cannot, in any sense, justify the horrendous mindset of the aggressor.

The Creator of the universe, the Almighty, creates hearts and minds within an intricate yet comprehendible set of frames. Often, the non-performing educational system in the country is held responsible for the terrible acts taking place. What about the harassment cases in offices? In workplaces, considerably, the more educated segment of society is involved. Is it that we are educating minds and not hearts? Or we do find a safe escape in blaming educational system or any other institution and keep on talking about reforms? Or is upbringing or societal impressions on developing minds are the cause behind these rising number of cases? Children, both female and male, are equally vulnerable. Women of our society are also vulnerable subjects.

Modesty lies in the temperament of the observer not in dress code of the subject

Firstly, keeping the facts straight, it is not only the Pakistani society in the region that is going through these crises. Here is a number to consider: 38,947. It is the number of rape cases in India reported in 2016, sourced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of India. The largest democracy in the world is becoming a more conservative society than any other in the region. According to a recent CNN report, India is considered to be the most dangerous country to be a woman, while the US ranks 10th. India is the most unsafe country in the world to be a woman because of the high risk of sexual violence and slave labour, a new survey has shown.

Today, Kashmiri women are the biggest victims of Indian government’s inhumane siege. No one can forget the horrific act that took place on February 23, 1991, as India carried out a large military operation, where soldiers raped more than 30 women in two villages, Kunan and Poshpora, in the Kupwara district of the Indian-held Kashmir. Indian Army has always denied the allegations, and the authorities continue to thwart attempts of the survivors to get justice to date.

Secondly, in 2016, South Africa, Sweden, the US, the UK and Wales topped India on reported rapes. India came fifth.

In last three years, there have been 700 reported cases in Pakistan. Not something to be mentioned proudly, but instead of thinking a subjugated or a backward society being the cause, we must see across the world how relatively more progressive and educated societies are going through similar menaces of rape, harassment, school shootings, racial-based incidents and street crimes. All of that reflect individual attitudes more than a religious, national or an ethical affiliation as the root cause. But there’s something subversive about hiding behind numbers; they mask the real development of a civilised society, and overshadow the brighter sides of a nation.

Narrowing down the whole debate on the dress code, someone who steps out for seeking education, for earning to live, or for any other purpose possesses an awareness to dress in the best suitable manner. The solution to the problem does not lie in an ostrich approach towards the bigger ills of society, or to put the burden of guilt on victims. Looking at examples around the world, across the most developed nations to the developing ones, one comes to the conclusion of identifying the cause first and then finding ways to eradicate the issue. If as a society, there was confusion about the cause, how would the stage of addressing and erasing the problem be reached?

I strongly believe that the best way out of frustration is through pen. I tried it. It is important to have an objective viewpoint while accepting the ground realities of a society, rather than wasting precious time in inculcating a false self-pity approach by blaming a mere dress code for a societal ill. Social crimes are not to be addressed merely by reforms in institutions or systems; they require a grander spectrum of tactics, leading from ameliorating individual mindsets, and concentrating more on factors behind the real cause of an action.

The writer is aPhD scholar at NDU, Islamabad