Daily Times

Four days have passed since destiny damned 20-year-old Dua Mangi in a well-lit corner of the “city of lights.” She was kidnapped at gunpoint from a highly affluent nook of Karachi while her friend, Haris, was shot in the neck as he tried intervening.

Soon, prayer pleas from family and friends stirred a storm across Pakistan but the outcry has as of now failed to rattle the authorities to action. Police still seem busy cooking up its theories ranging from student quarrel to gang involvements. Meanwhile, kidnappers claiming to hold Dua hostage have stepped in with a demand of their own: 0.25 million.

Dua is still missing.

A family has been bracing for a long search, getting ready for more devastating news for the last four nights. Let that sink in.

Any normal society would have become an embodiment of horror by now. With countrywide protests and concerted efforts, people in this land of the pure must be mobilised to aid the police in finding the young woman. The social media would have been horrified by the debauchery of the dark forces vile enough to cherry-pick a girl walking in one of the busiest city streets; abuzz with discussions on crime lurking in all corners of Karachi.

However, that could only ensue in a NORMAL society. For we, ladies and gentlemen, have devolved into nothing other than a collective group of sicktards. A mentally sick society that followed a gruesome episode of abduction with widespread slut-shaming of the victim; not condemnation. Instead of piling pressure on the authorities, Facebook’s self-appointed “ghairat brigade” seems to have come up with a judgement of its own. Wearing a sleeveless top, strolling on a street at night, that too, with a MALE friend. Dua was definitely asking for this and probably more. The debate on social media has now turned into a full-fledged war between the victim’s critics and those questioning the moral standards of these “judges.”

What a catastrophic time to live in!

There’s more. The blood-curdling notes of our apathy have been noticed by the international community. With credible media outlets like BBC picking up the disappointing and insensitive reaction of our online community to Dua’s abduction, this episode would surely bring another stain on our consistent reputation as one of the “most unsafe countries for women.”

Now, what these netizens fail to comprehend is that Dua’s grisly story has only added to the seemingly never-ending list of crimes perpetrated against women. Snapshots from across the country these past few weeks are enough to spark depression in anyone. Only last Friday, maize farmers heading to fields in Tehsil Mailsi found dead bodies of Sania (7) and Fauzia (6); bringing their families’ worst fears to life. Soon afterwards, their teenage uncle confessed to the killings as a desperate cover-up attempt. He had earlier raped his nieces before strangulating them to death. How “unIslamic could the two girls have dressed on their way to the mosque for their Quran lessons?

A week earlier, another “real uncle” in Rawalpindi owned up to murdering a seven-year-old Sidra before subjecting her to physical assault. Yes, she was raped after being choked to death as her mother slept in an adjoining room. In the security and safety of her own house! I wonder how our online Mullahs would condone this horrifying act. What safety measures should a minor girl have taken while sleeping, with her mother, inside her own house?

Rapes inside hospital wards, rapes of women sleeping inside their graves, rapes of women in burqas, rapes of little girls covering their heads with scarves. The list continues. How and why would we, as a society, continue to find loopholes in the victim’s character instead of castrating the monsters that breed among us all? If I were to know any better, I would have asked us all to take a pledge to change our mindset; to start asking the right questions. I would have urged the civil society to demand this government to revamp the conviction rates of gender-based violence. Pleading to the media to run awareness campaigns to help raise a generation of men who know better than to rape. BUT, having spent most of my life in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I will only hope for at least Dua Mangi to be found safe and sound. As for the other children of the lesser god, one can only offer prayers for them to not suffer; for them to remain safe; for them to enjoy another day in a world in which it is a crime to be a female.

The writer is a member of the staff and can be reached at durenayab786@gmail.com. She tweets @dureakram.