A sad incident

The incident of parading a naked young girl in a village of Dera Ismail Khan exposes the lawlessness in the area. It also highlights the fact that to what extent the weak and the poor are vulnerable in our society. There is no doubt that this gruesome act is a gross and blatant violation of human rights. The heartless and shameless perpetrators of this heinous offense should be awarded an exemplary punishment. Reportedly, the culprits acted in such a brutal manner because they were backed by an influential politician. This is nothing but an unfortunate episode of abuse of power. Women in our country are not safe. A few months back, a teenage girl in Muzaffargarh was raped to pay the price of the crime committed by her brother and a crime that was completely unrelated to her.

According to the World Economic Forum, the gender gap in Pakistan stands at 68.3 percent and such incidents strengthen the fact that the dream of empowerment of women in our country is not going to be realised in the near future. The WEF further reports that it requires another hundred years for women to gain equal rights with men in Pakistan. It is unfortunate that we use women as a commodity. Our society still practices unorthodox customs that allow using girls to make peace with rivals – for example giving a girl in marriage to settle disputes. Although various laws are there for the protection of women, they are not implemented in true letter and spirit. Token condemnations and lip service are of no use unless some stern and foolproof measures are adopted for the uplift and empowerment of women.

Muhammad Fayyaz (Mianwali)