Incest and punishment

Pakistan’s sisters and daughters continue to face injustice in the form of rape, violence without due process of...

Our country might be one of the few nations that most frequently sees headlines about stories that are in grave violation of many principles. An example is the news story appearing on November 28 out of Chakwal, about a father ordering the rape of his own daughter. This was the statement given by the daughter, who was badly beaten and raped along with her mother, the father’s ex-wife. The father heartlessly led a 24-man gang to rape the two women after a dispute over whose choice husband the daughter would marry; the daughter wanted to marry the man of her mother’s choice, while this was not agreeable to her father. The women in the story, once again, do not  seem to be recognised as human beings with feelings and free will but rather as objects to men. They are treated as subjects who must face the wrath of their family’s male members and experience severe consequences for acting on their own wills.

When will change in such men’s thinking arrive? Let us hope that it comes soon because while these radical men exist, Pakistan’s sisters and daughters continue to face injustice in the form of rape, violence and mental agony without due process of law. The men who terrorise these women are caught and released back into their jungles, regardless of whether or not they express remorse at their unlawful actions. Such men care not whether their victims are their own family members; to some, blood relationships are of no empathic significance. In fact, it seems that a high proportion of the stories pertaining to violation of basic human rights involve close family members.

In this story, one of the tragedies is that the daughter did not realise that she has the choice to marry whoever she wants without her mother or father making the decision for her — of course, not many women in Pakistani society realise this. However, most troubling is the thought of what incestuous and animalistic thoughts ran through the father’s mind before raping his own daughter. The authorities must take strict action to bring this man and his accomplices under detention and make them face proper legal proceedings. Until justice is served in such cases, we will continue to fear for our women.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2012.