Pakistan might soon top one international ranking as it is well on its way to overshadowing neighbouring India as the rape capital of the world. Last week, a woman minding her business on a train ride from Multan to Karachi was raped by someone assigned the duty of checking her ticket. Before anyone indulges in her character assassination, just like all the other passengers aboard a Pakistan Railways vehicle, a dire threat to her security would likely not have crossed her mind. But to her misfortune, her gender is not safe anywhere. From cradle to grave, and a million pitstops in between, gender-based violence has become a norm in a society that ironically takes great pride in its values. After all, our former prime minister Imran Khan was quick to draw a connection between the much-despised breakdown of “family values” in the West and the menace of sex crimes. It can only be hoped that the law enforcement agency this victim chose for the redressal of the gross injustice does not start poking holes in her wardrobe choices. The year before last’s distasteful tirade by the then Capital City Police Officer against the motorway gang-rape survivor is still etched fresh in the collective memory. If anything, the past reminders have taught the women one daunting lesson: they are always on their own. No matter what circumstances may push them to brave a fate some may bewail as worse than death, it is always their alleged missteps that manage to find the limelight. Sadly, one round of fierce victim-blaming can erase all discomforting images of force against an unwilling participant, and the people around can all gladly move on. Every Noor has to fight her case with the same determination that Mukhtaran did a decade earlier to scrub the accusation stains off her. Whether she steps onto the battlefield herself or her dear ones take up the cudgels for her, her state is not in a mood to make this unbearable struggle easy. Pakistan’s historic wins on the legislative grounds (abolishing the two-finger test, establishing special courts and even greenlighting chemical castrations) have not yet helped bring in a new sunny day. There appears no end to this dark, dark tunnel that over half of its population calls survival in a toxic land. Even today, innumerable rape victims are silenced over notions of family honour. A handful of courageous that do decide to knock on the hallways of justice are disillusioned by the abysmally low conviction rate. At the end of the day, patriarchy appears triumphant as either the sexually assaulted finds closure in scuttling behind curtains or is at the mercy of men in position. Regardless of what fills the boat of people like former president Pervez Musharraf, not everyone reeling under the violent crime of rape steps forward to gain foreign nationalities. *