Perhaps, the real tragedy of two young sisters lying on hospital beds in Toba Tek Singh is not their vicious assault but that their agonising cries have shamed us into confronting our shocking abuse of women. Those who try to justify the horrors of such an abhorrent crime might have a hard time spewing an excuse now. For this is not the dreadful motorway gang-rape case of last year where the victim was horrendously stigmatised for being out late at night. The two unfortunate girls had stepped in the open to fetch firewood. It goes without saying that a 15-year-old and an eight-year-old would not be dressed or have acted promiscuously whatsoever. Ergo, the usual victim-blaming is without rhyme or reason. There seemed no end to their misery as after the ruthless hooligan had their way with the elder one, the younger sister was stripped naked. Not just that, the reprehensible wrongdoing was recorded with a mobile phone. All in the name of some good old-fashioned fun! As is the custom, there will be the usual protests by an incensed civil society amid passionate calls for death penalties and dramatic castrations. But just like before, the noise will die down soon; the victims gone clean out the collective memory. The traumatised faces would be replaced by yet another blood-chilling sob-tale in some days. Wasn’t it just last week that we were tweeting in solidarity with a young boy abused by a celebrated cleric inside a seminary for several years? While the deafening silence of his party, JUI-F, continues to haunt Pakistan, thankfully, the law found its course. Charges were filed and despite concocting a cock-and-bull rendition that skeletoned drugs and madrassa politics, the 70-year-old is behind bars. It is quite ironic that Maulana Fazlur Rehman has set aside his no-word-mincing chequered reputation and is unable to get a syllable out. Sadly, the opportunistic circus is ready for yet another show. At the risk of sounding repetitive, hitting the bricks on social media alone is a futile exercise unless this activism translates into something worthwhile. Though the netizens are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, the same cannot be said about other institutions in Pakistan. Yes, the three accused in this case have been arrested but who is to say a foolproof investigation would be carried out. Previously, patriarchal biases and lackadaisical work of the law enforcement personnel have lent a substantial hand to a laughable conviction rate. With an end to the humiliating two-finger virginity test used in medical examination of rape victims, we cannot say all news is bad news. Yet, the outrageously casual reporting of such incidents in mainstream media does warrant a closer look. Sans a few high-profile cases, most are not even deemed worthy of a follow-up report. Doesn’t this lacklustre indicate a fierce determination to reduce the sufferings of Pakistani women to a footnote? An entire generation of men insists on being the gamechanger for those bearing a heavy cross. It is high time all of us rise up to absolve the “weaker sex” of its “original sin”–being born. *