Under arrest, finally

The prime suspect in the Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape incident has been arrested after more than a month. Abid Malhi’s criminal associates pinned him as being the main person who sexually assaulted a woman in front of her minor children on September 9. According to statements given by co-accused Shafqat to police, Abid was the first to assault the victim, and he later ordered Shafqat to do the same. The two other arrested gang members were apparently not directly involved in the assault, although the investigation is still ongoing. Hopefully, justice will now be done.

While the investigation continues, calls for maximum punishment are already being made by people in power. While that is within their rights, some influential people are repeatedly demanding cruel and unusual punishment. These people need to be muzzled if only to keep the public conversation orderly. This is because they distract attention from any public discourse on the cause of such incidents and how to address them.

Women have a right to feel safe anywhere and at any time of day. Even if we consider other security issues, at the bare minimum, they have a right to feel as safe as men. But instead of civilised conversations about how to do this, attention is diverted by people with a worrying amount of bloodlust. Yes, the attackers deserve punishment, but that punishment will not benefit society, per se. It will only bring justice to the victim. If society is to gain, we need to look at the bigger picture. The suspects are just disgusting blotches caused by a larger cancer. While we need to manage the symptoms, it will all be pointless if we fail to address the disease. For that, we have to start elsewhere.

The Lahore CCPO, who somehow still has his job, is emblematic of what needs to change. We wouldn’t need to protect women if men simply understood how to truly respect them as equals, rather than chattel. Even now, the country denies women rights as an individual — their identity is still tied to their fathers or husbands. A woman’s identity is limited to being someone’s wife, daughter, sister, or mother. She needs the right to be someone.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.

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