Mukhtaran Mai: Pakistan betrayed you once again

This is time for reflection, policy debate and untiring advocacy.


Raza Rumi April 22, 2011
Mukhtaran Mai: Pakistan betrayed you once again

April 21, 2011 will be remembered as a black day in Pakistan’s history. Not because this was the day when the Supreme Court acquitted the alleged rapists of a poor, marginalised woman. It will be marked as the day when, once again, Pakistan’s colonial criminal justice system failed to protect the vulnerable, thereby rendering a heinous crime such as gang rape almost unpunishable.

Nine years ago, a misogynistic panchayat of south Punjab ordered the gang rape of a woman for no sin of hers. It was her (then 12-year-old) brother who was sodomised and then accused of illicit relations with the sister of the powerful rapists. This low-caste family had to be ‘fixed’. Thanks to the media frenzy, the state had to act when what happens in subaltern Pakistan was exposed. Suo motu notices by the courts, police investigation and faulty prosecution ultimately led to no justice. At every step of the legal process, powerful men obstructed the cause of justice.

The Lahore High Court and now the split bench of the Supreme Court have decided on the basis of evidence produced before them. Fair enough. After all, the courts have to rely on the proceedings. But are we not living in the age of proactive courts where ‘public expectations’ and correcting the wrongs of history are oft-cited phrases? Did a learned judge not say in the sugar price control case that the court was moving beyond its jurisdiction to respond to public expectations? Did the courts not decide on the Eighteenth Amendment, which cannot be challenged in any court? We respect the honourable courts but do reserve the right to differ. Are the lower courts equally stringent about blasphemy cases? No.

No sooner was the judgement released that some men, according to reports, clapped in the court. Later, a chauvinistic TV anchor asked Mukhtaran if she had any compassion for the men who had spent six years in jail. This was adding insult to a national injury. Are we living in a medieval society? Evidently yes, when it comes to women and their rights.

This is time for reflection, policy debate and untiring advocacy. Our police has to be restructured and made accountable to the public, not to the provincial chief ministers and the IGs. Pakistan has to augment prosecution services and make them autonomous.

How long will terrorists and rapists be released simply because the prosecution system is weak? The provinces with the reversal of devolution have undone the prosecution reform started in 2002. We also need judicial reforms in lower and superior courts of Pakistan — way beyond the goals of the national judicial policy of 2009.

Let Mukhtaran Mai’s defeat become an opportunity for mobilising for reform. Mai: We are ashamed, but will not give up.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2011.

COMMENTS (92)

Sakib Ahmad | 13 years ago | Reply An article by a western reporter, published in The News today, will come as a bolt from the blue for Pakistan's self-styled "liberals" dying to please their foreign paymasters and friends. These ridiculous people, devoid of any self-respect as Pakistanis, are incapable of measured criticism of Pakistan's highest institutions. Here's the link to Bronwyn Curran's article: http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=44406&Cat=9
mussarat Hussain | 13 years ago | Reply @Ayesha Siddiqa: Of course Aisha, this is not the time to go into debate or discuss complications of pakistani law that comes from colonial regime. Shattered Mukhtaran Mai just need Justice that doesn't seem to be off the hand in Pakistan. Justice is purely meant for a specific group or class in pakistan. Pakistani judiciary knows well whom it should please so that they can go home with "Justice and Honor". It is only Establishent of Pakistan that doesn't want Musharraf to be extradited to Pakistan and "Judiciary" knows very well how to obey orders. It has nothing do with the culprits of poor Mukhtaran Mai. Pakistani judiciary is helpless before powerful "feudals' of South Punjab. You know what I mean? Mussarat Hussain
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ