Kashmore tragedy: Should nation still remain silent about sexual abuse?

Sexual abuse and harassment against women and minor children in our country are an ugly reality that thrives on a culture of silence.

On Tuesday that silence was broken loudly and assertively, that too in a conservative part of the country. In Sindh’s Kashmore district, sexual brutality with a mother and a four-year-old girl has shaken the entire country, after the incident, when the innocent girl showed her body’s injuries due to sexual crime to police.

According to the reports on the horrifying incident, the woman was called in from Karachi for a job but when she reached there with her four-year-old daughter the alleged assaulters gang-raped both mother and daughter and left them there for dead.

The woman had come across the suspect at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi nearly a week ago. The suspect promised the woman that he would get her a job at Kashmore Toll Plaza and she readily agreed.

The woman approached Kashmore police, alleging that the suspect had raped her after she reached his residence, and he then handed her over to another man living near the Sindh-Balochistan border. That man also allegedly raped the woman, according to SSP police.

The woman told police that the suspect held her five-year-old daughter hostage, saying he would only let her go when she brought him another woman from Karachi. According to police, the suspect also gave her some money to cover her travel expenses.

Cases registered against the two men

A case was registered against the two men on Tuesday on the complaint of Kashmore police under Sections 376 (punishment of rape), 344 (wrongful confinement for ten or more days), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Besides the two suspects, one unidentified person was also nominated in the case by the police.

Police have reportedly arrested one of the suspects who has admitted to raping the mother-daughter duo, while medical reports to ascertain the crime have confirmed sexual assault.

Police conducted raids for the arrest of the other man in Balochistan but he remained at large. A local court has already remanded the Kashmore suspect in police custody for three days.

Anger sparked on social media

The latest incident involving sexual violence against women and children sparked outrage on social media and was condemned by rights activists and politicians as well. It remained one of the top trends on Twitter in Pakistan and was being posted about with the hashtag ‘Kashmore tragedy’.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari issued a statement saying he had taken strong notice of “the brutal incident”, which had “shocked him personally and the beasts involved in this gruesome crime have shamed humanity”.

Bilawal said the victims will get justice at any cost and asked the Sindh government to ensure that the culprits get exemplary punishment under the law. He also asked the government to ensure adequate medical treatment for both the victims.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said the “horrific Kashmore rape case shows how despite laws a bestial mindset continues to ravage our society, violating our children. Sindh government must ensure strict enforcement of the law.”

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail termed the incident “sickening”. He said he was following the case “to ensure strictest punishment for the criminals” and the best medical treatment and post-trauma care for the child.

There has been a horrific increase in the number of rape cases in Pakistan in the last few years.

Be it Zainab of Kasur or Alisha of Karachi, and several others, sexual predators have set such examples of horror and barbarism that it is heartbreaking.

Recently, a woman was raped in front of her children on the motorway, a 60-year-old mother and her 37-year-old daughter were raped in Faisalabad and dozens of such incidents have become a disgrace to society.

Laws aganist sexual vilonce 

Article 25 of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan states: “All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law. There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex. Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the protection of women and children.

Article 23 of the 1973 Constitution states, “Provision as to property. Every citizen shall have the right to acquire, hold and dispose of the property in any part of Pakistan, subject to the Constitution and any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the public interest.

The Prevention of Anti Women Practices Act 2011 states: “Whoever by deceitful or, illegal means deprive any woman from inheriting any movable or immovable property at the time of opening of succession shall be punished with imprisonment for either description for a term which may extend to ten years but not be less than five years or with a fine of one million rupees or both.”

Despite legal powers, the state has failed to defend the lives and dignity of young girls and women and provide them swift justice.

Rather than arresting the culprits and giving them exemplary punishment, the government is now attempting to stop the media coverage of such cases. 

What is needed now is for all nations?

What is needed now is for all nations, regardless of race, caste or creed, to unite and speak out against these incidents, and to put an end to sexual predators, as well as a lesson to their facilitators and supporters.

So that our daughters, sisters and mothers can be protected from the lust of such savage beasts. It is also crucial that we must build a society where the police, judicial systems as well as crime laws protect us and we can live and move around safely.