The damage is never ending but it could be stopped
LAHORE: On Wednesday, the news of Khadija Siddiqui, the 22-year-old female law student who was stabbed 23 times by his classmate, demanding justice went viral. Khadija chose to defy the odds and speak up against the torment she faced at the hands of the son of an influential advocate. Her demand for justice gives us hope. Not because we think it would be met, but because we know that there are people in the country who are willing to stand up for what is right.
But, at the same time, her unfazed confidence and trust in our judiciary is worrisome. If her demand is not met, it will not mark yet another story of incompetence in our judicial system but also reinforce the fact that in Pakistan, if you’re an influencer you can even get away with murder — which the case is, an attempt to murder; Khadija is lucky to be alive. And imagine a country where a person accused of murder goes on to sit for the law exam and becomes part of the same system that let him go scot-free. The damage is never ending but it could be stopped, only if the one’s holding the reins of power want to. Will it be an end to a new beginning?
Faiza Choudhry
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2017.
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