Despite repeated attempts by various governments to legislate for the protection of vulnerable groups in Pakistan, on ground, the situation has worsened over time. A report by Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) has ranked Pakistan as the sixth most dangerous country for women.From 2004 to 2015 reported cases of violence against women have increased by 33%, mostly in Sindh (41%) with Punjab not very distant second (39%). However, this is not indicative of low incidence in other regions as crime reporting is generally low in other areas. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2014) reports that majority of these crimes are committed by men the victims were related with. “Honor” and “insubordination” has been cited as the most common causes by the perpetrators. The interpretations of “honor” itself vary between asking for greater autonomy in the choice of spouse to effectively having a physical relationship with someone. Strikingly, Punjab Commission on the State of Women reports that while violence against women has been on the rise, number of convictions in these have fallen by 78% from 2012 to 2015. Likewise, children are another vulnerable group. NGO Sahil reports sexual abuse incidences targeting children have increased by an alarming 32% in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. In the first six months of 2018, 141 cases reported in just Lahore, Punjab. At least 77 girls and 79 boys were raped or sexually assaulted in the first half of 2018, according to police reports, but none of the suspects had been convicted at time of writing and all had been released on bail. Another group that remained especially vulnerable to sexual violence and hate crimes is the transgendered community. For instance, according to the local group, Trans Action, 479 attacks against transgendered community were reported in Khyber-Pakhunkhwa province in 2018. At least four transgender women were killed there in 2018, and at least 57 have been killed there since 2015.
Considering the overall picture, it is easy to conclude that vulnerable groups are facing persecution and physical violence in this country. The reasons for that are many. American Psychological Association states frustration, exposure to violent media, exposure to violence in in daily life, misinterpretation of other people’s intention and environmental factors as reasons for people perpetrating violence against others. What this explanation ignores is the role accountability plays in curtailment of violence. Violence can be means to an end or it can be for direct gratification of the perpetrator, but at the end of the day, people commit violence because they are not worried about its ramifications.
Just recently, the case of DuaMangi and the highly publicized response on social media from a number of individuals has been a clear evidence of victim blaming
Pakistan has a very impressive list of legislations that legally protect vulnerable groups against violence. Articles 3 and 11 of the Constitution of Pakistan are relatively new (in 2015) but they explicitly protect all individuals in the country from exploitation, slavery, trafficking and all forms of forced labor. While these articles do not explicitly specify any particular group they do declare freedom from bondage and exploitation an inalienable human right which includes (implicitly) women, children, transgendered individuals and people belonging to minority religions. At the national and provincial levels there have been myriad attempts at legislating penalties and preventive measures for violence targeting women and other disadvantaged groups. Just recently there have been petitions on change.org demanding harsh punishments for child abuse and rape. However, the latest figures do not paint a pretty picture.
So the question is why are women, children and vulnerable groups not safe from violence in Pakistan? What are the impediments to implementation of laws? The answer may lie in the cultural attributes or informal institutions in the country. If we prescribe to Galtung’s theory of cultural violence, there are aspects of Pakistani culture that can be used to legitimize violent conduct. Galtung also clarifies that cultures in their entirety are not violent, it is some aspects of a culture that may paint a violent act as right or, at least, “not wrong”. This will result in either the incidence not even being reported to the authorities or being ignored by the individuals in authority.
Some such aspects of Pakistani culture would be the construct of “honor” combined with the notion of religious, ethnic or gender-based hierarchies. These hierarchies are not written or legislated but are very much part of human existence. No matter what their original purpose might be, these do not translate harmoniously into changing times and value systems. The beneficiaries of old hierarchies feel threatened by the new definitions which may be change in the status of clergy, races or gender. The redefining of gender roles, challenges to the sole authority of religious leaders and, intended or unintended, ethnic inequalities have led to the emergence of a defensive mindset among men, religious groups and ethnicities. The challenge to status quo, which is a hallmark of changing times and social progress, has garnered opposing responses.The resistance can take many forms. One way to resist is to turn towards violence and another is to justify said acts of violence. The legitimization of acts of violence in this regard takes the form of perceived threat to one’s honor.
Another aspect of violence culture is the “rape myth” and “victim blaming”, which tries to externalize the responsibility for the act of violence by exonerating the perpetrator to varying degrees. This can take the form of “victim blaming”, where the conduct of the victim of violence comes under scrutiny as a factor that results in the violence itself or it may place the blame on media, internet or video games etc. By creating and dispersing such narratives society affords the perpetrators some shelter from the blame thus encouraging such acts implicitly. Just recently, the case of DuaMangi and the highly publicized response on social media from a number of individuals has been a clear evidence of such tendencies.
We have to understand that for the laws to work for the protection of women, children, transgendered individuals and minority groups, a cultural change is needed. World Health Organization (WHO) suggests workshops in gender sensitivity, mass media campaigns and banning of corporal punishments in schools can be deemed good first steps towards eradicating the culture of violence. These might not enough, and we might have a long way to go before we become society that is safe for all its citizens, but the change has to start somewhere, and it has to start soon.
The writer Dr Karim Khan is Associate Professor, Sadia Sherbaz is a PhD Scholar, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad