The savage gang-rape of a five year old girl in Lahore this September whose body was then dumped outside a hospital, horrified Pakistan and the world. This brutal attack was then followed within a week by two more appalling rapes that hit the headlines – that of a young girl in Faisalabad and a college girl in Toba Tek Singh. Let us also not forget that there is gross under-reporting due to the stigma associated with these assaults, threats of further violence, and the callous and indifferent treatment of victims by police.
The national rage at these incidents has targeted not only the culprits, with an outcry for harsher punishments but also the police, politicians, and a system that has utterly failed to deal with this problem effectively. The lax police attitudes and government apathy towards these crimes are a direct result of the routine and systematic degrading of women driven by retrograde values such as those encouraged by the ‘Jirga’ mindset.
There is an environment that devalues the status of children and women in our society thus nurturing a corrupt mindset that leads to such sickening crimes. It has also desensitized and diminished the gravity of such attacks in the eyes of the law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the governing bodies causing them to deal with it in a lighter manner, mostly there is no follow up.
So where does the solution lie? To sincerely address this problem requires a mind open to education and enlightenment for our women and children and also to train them to face such dangers. We also need to form a balance between what Islam ordains and the modern world. There may be many liberal values around us but it is the home that guides our children to tread the path which can save them from such criminals. We have to teach our children about the immoral elements and how they can save themselves. Groups can be formed to help children to be protected and the same can be done for women. Generally they are protected by the male members of the family.
We as a nation need to identify these segments in society where this affliction originates or generally speaking the causes and reasons that make men do such horrific acts. Sadly, though, no action is taken by the law enforcing agencies in most of such cases. The ban on death penalty means a society that indirectly backs up lechers and vagabonds with filthy minds. Harsh and swift punishments are the only deterrent that can clean our society of these ills.
People believe that a modest dress code, segregation of the genders, and prohibition of extramarital relationships can put a stop to these acts, but I have not heard of the six year old girl child wearing an obscene dress? Islam also prescribes harsh punishments for any form of sexual assaults, including the death-penalty in particular cases. In addition it obliges an efficient judicial system to deal with crimes swiftly. We must bring back the death penalty instead of giving into the cry for human rights as these people are beasts. They need to be hanged and hanged high. There are many countries in Europe and many states in USA which still practice death penalty so what are we trying to prove?