Pakistan: Another day, another crime

INTERNATIONAL DESK: That a disturbing video of a young woman being kidnapped in the poshest of localities in the country’s heartland added to the long, long list of gender-based violence is yet another reminder of the government’s failure.

Much more pertinent than the ongoing conspiracy theories or the wave of gratitude over her escaping relatively unscathed is that none of the authorities has been troubled enough to even react to the flashpoint let alone come up with remedial measures. Pakistan not believing in fighting for its women, their security and their prosperity is old news.

And unless those in power find within the faintest desire to bring about a better tomorrow, their complicity in crimes against the weaker strata cannot be denied.

If last year’s 153rd ranking on the Global Gender Gap index was not shameful enough, this year, we’ve broken our own record by plunging further down. Given the endless horrors and discomfort that women are forced to live through in a land of men, Pakistan being in the company of sub-Saharan countries (many of which are undergoing existential crises) should not surprise anyone.

The mud flies are bound to stick fast to the investigation files of the case registered against the unidentified accused. After all, if history has taught us anything, such episodes lose interest after just one news cycle. Our abysmally low conviction rate allows (read encourages) millions upon millions of women to go missing or get killed. For every rare father of Dua Zehra and Noor Muqaddam, we have innumerable families willing to go the last mile to paper the cracks whenever any such dismal instance occurs.

More sadly, the women are just as misogynistic largely due to lifetimes spent under the patriarchal spell. May it be women professionals, female lawmakers or ordinary countrywomen walking on the road, no one is safe from the hands and eyes ever ready to assault them. Unless the government shuts the door on this notion of helplessness, the charades would continue. Safety and security are a fantasy in this so-called Islamic republic. (Daily Times editorial)