The gang rape of a woman on Wednesday night at the Lahore motorway is another chilling reminder of the threat posed by predators who populate our alleyways and highways.
The victim, accompanied by her two children, was waiting for assistance on the side of the highway after her car ran out of fuel. Her vehicle was attacked by two armed men, who then took her and her two children to a nearby field on gun-point and sexually abused her.
The newly-appointed police chief of Lahore Umar Shaikh managed to make the situation worse by suggesting that the victim was also to blame for the situation.
"What surprises me is that, being a mother of three (young) children and the only driver (unaccompanied by an adult male), why would she not take the GT Road that has population around it? If nothing else, she should have checked her fuel...," CCPO Umar Sheikh told Dunya News, a local news channel, in an audio interview earlier today.
The video clip has since been widely shared on social media, including Twitter, and resulted in an infuriated response from netizens with #RemoveCCPOLahore becoming one of the top trends in the country.
The blatant victim-blaming also elicited a response from the country's human rights minister.
For an officer to effectively blame a woman for being gang raped by saying she should have taken the GT Road or question as to why she went out in the night with her children is unacceptable & have taken up this issue. Nothing can ever rationalise the crime of rape. That's it.
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) September 10, 2020
The shut up calls quickly followed, with one user who uses the handle @daanistan also hoping for a modicum of karma against those dishing out unsolicited advice to women.
To all the men in Pakistan providing unsolicited advice to women today - for once, change the narrative from 'women, don't get raped' to 'men, don't rape'. Also, while we're at it, I hope a hundred crows take a dump on your car today.
— dk (@daanistan) September 10, 2020
Shaheena is killed by her husband but it s a personal domestic issue. A woman is raped on the motorway, why did she take that route and not have petrol?
— Atiya Abbas (@AtiyaAbbas_) September 10, 2020
Men. Plz shut it with the security tips and advice for today. Or anything else that does not acknowledge the deep and completely justified rage and any take that does not seek basic justice and protection. Your takes are not needed, apart from this. #motorwayincident
— Zarrar Khuhro (@ZarrarKhuhro) September 10, 2020
For others, the latest incident was another reminder of how vulnerable women were in this part of the world, as the incident occurred within 24 hours of another case from neighbouring India where an 86-year-old grandmother was raped.
“Ask a man what his greatest fear is about serving jail time, and he will almost inevitably say he fears being raped. What can we deduce from the fact that jail is to men what life is to so many women?” reputed academic and political worker Asim Sajjad Akhtar quoted writer Soraya Chemaly
“Ask a man what his greatest fear is about serving jail time, and he will almost inevitably say he fears being raped. What can we deduce from the fact that jail is to men what life is to so many women?”
— Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (@AasimSajjadA) September 10, 2020
~ Soraya Chemaly#MotorwayIncident
Similarly, writer Aiman Rizvi cast doubt over the public's transitory approach to sexual violence in the country,"Every few months we erupt into a moral outrage over a reported rape case - protests are organized, a public hanging is demanded - and then we swiftly move on to the next news cycle There’s no engagement with the underlying structural issues - just a desire to pacify a bloodlust".
Every few months we erupt into a moral outrage over a reported rape case - protests are organized, a public hanging is demanded - and then we swiftly move on to the next news cycle. There’s no engagement with the underlying structural issues - just a desire to pacify a bloodlust
— Aiman Rizvi (@Aimanfrizvi) September 10, 2020
While academic Nida Kirmani was of the view that the top cop should not only be ousted but the "victim-blaming mentality that pervades our society should be removed".
Remove him & more importantly, remove the victim-blaming mentality that pervades our society! #RemoveCCPOLahore
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) September 10, 2020
Pakistan Peoples Party leader Sharmila Faruqii was of the view that a "zero tolerance policy" should be adopted toward men who support the criminal while bashing the victim.
Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly condemned the incident and assured that those responsible for the heinous act would be taken to task.
وزیر اعظم عمران خان کا معصوم بچی اور خاتون سے زیادتی کے مختلف واقعات کا سخت نوٹس
— Prime Minister's Office, Pakistan (@PakPMO) September 10, 2020
خواتین کا تحفظ حکومت کی اولین ترجیح اور ذمہ داری ہے۔ کسی مہذب معاشرے میں ایسی درندگی اور حیوانیت کی اجازت نہیں دی جا سکتی۔ ایسے واقعات ہماری سماجی اقدار کے منافی اور سوسائٹی پر بدنما داغ ہیں۔
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