Helpline to protect women

Letter September 20, 2017
Women in Pakistan have faced such issues in the 70-year-long history of the country

KARACHI: Of late, there have been a number of statuses posted on social media detailing the horrific ordeal of public harassment in broad daylight. Men are openly passing lewd comments, showing their private parts and following women on streets, malls and roads.

Women in Pakistan have faced such issues in the 70-year-long history of the country. But lately, some brave women have been voicing them openly and showing the true picture of how truly ‘safe’ our country is for the other sex. However, irrespective of such rampant issues prevalent in our society, there is no proper helpline one can call to report these instances.

Although starting from the root cause by educating our men on ‘why they should stop harassing women’ is the right way forward in keeping our society safe, there is a dire need to setup a helpline that can deal with these issue on immediate basis. For instance, if a woman is being followed, she shouldn’t have to dodge and drive till she spots a traffic policeman — who rarely helps — to scare away her harasser. Instead, a helpline should be created where she can immediately call and lodge the complaint and then the helpline would inform the nearest police station to send help and put the harasser behind bars. We need to act now, before a lewd comment translates into rape.

Sadia Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2017.

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