Aftermath of the Motorway Gang-rape
Do not read this if you’re a minor & you have the right to disagree with my views
While the literal meaning of the word ‘mother’ is the female parent of a child, if you ask a child to describe their mother, you would be introduced to a Divine being who means the whole world to them! Their whole life revolves around the presence of a mother supervising, nurturing, and grooming them to become who they are. From their smallest wish like maybe even having a paratha with vegetables or even defending them in front of relatives, she’s the ONE-MAN-ARMY that everyone wants. However, the last two days have rocked my core and the aftermath of the gang-rape at Motorway has helped to no extent whatsoever to calm down the inner anger and frustration. I checked my twitter and the tweets there too prompted me to stay away from social media as I wasn’t ready for all this.
A mother gang-raped in front of her children? What are we even doing? Imagine the two types of pain that the mother suffered due to this gruesome. Firstly, the physical indescribable pain of men tearing her apart with their assertion on her……I can’t even describe how brutal it was! Secondly, realizing the whole scene is permanently imprinted on the minds of her off-springs. We talk about rape victims facing the world but let’s be honest, would she be able to face her children too after this? The beautiful mother to child relation deteriorated within a mere hour or two because of some BASTARDS who could not control their lust and hunger for women! Some people compared the rapists with dogs and other animals but frankly speaking, the woman would have been safer in a jungle rather than the BASTARDS who walk on this world disguised as civilized men.
WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES WHAT IS GOING ON!!!!!!
As expected, my newsfeed was dominated by people who were placing blame on one another. The liberals blaming the Molvis for their silence on this matter and mocking the nation that the matter would have gained importance if it was a blasphemy case. The conservatives were busy criticizing Aurat March and other organizations for their silence on this matter in light of the fact that they were fairly vocal during Ali Zafar’s case. What the hell is wrong with us? Why can’t we accept the fact that women are not safe and show unity at such a daunting incident? If we take a closer look at the cases, we can clearly arrive at conclusions. A doctor in Karachi committed suicide after alleged gang rape in her college/university and we got to hear, “Look at her clothing and makeup, she invited this!” Seriously? A child gets raped in Madrasa, “ALL MOLVIS ARE LIKE THIS”. Why can’t we understand that being leftist or rightist, conservative or liberal, married or unmarried, adult or minor, religious or non-religiousness does not matter in such cases? THE BITTER TRUTH IS THAT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THIS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR AFFILIATIONS IS TARGETED BY PREDATORS WHO SEEK TO END LIVES WITH THEIR APPALLING ACTIONS!
As a kid, I would always watch my dad ask my mother to take someone along when she had to go to places, and I would always be surprised why would he ask her that? She’s an adult? Stronger than the kids that accompanied her on her car journeys and it was only when I was promoted to O level that I came to know about the monsters that inhabit the surface of the earth. Quite often, while on the journey, my mother would end up swearing (very very very rare) and I would find the motorcyclist in front of our car, rotating his neck almost 90 degrees to have a complete look at a girl who would either be sitting in a car, walking on the footpath or getting out of her house. It never mattered if she wore a scarf or jeans, was aged or not, the stare was mandatory, of the same cringe level as if they were examining the woman from head to toe. I would lower my head in disgust most of the time, feeling embarrassed belonging to the same gender as the creep in front of us.
So there are two scenarios, one where a girl and a boy (who are friends) are having lunch at an elite restaurant and the second one is where a woman is getting harassed by another person, which one do you think would grab the attention of those around them? While rational thinking would say the sexual harassment but unfortunately, our society would begin by commenting on the pair having lunch together first. “TAUBA TAUBA HAMARI NASAL DATING MAIN MULAWIS HAY AUR KOI DEEN LIHAZ NAHI!” It’s saddening to tell that most harassment cases have witnesses who prefer to stay silent as it isn’t their concern and let them suffer in pain. Be it at a restaurant, concert, road (the recent cyclist issue), or even at schools, we ARE USELESS!
The first time a female friend told me about her childhood sexual trauma, I was speechless. I didn’t know what to tell her. Offer sympathy or admire her courage? At the age, this trauma took place, my biggest concern used to be the power failure when it was time for Beyblade and Pokémon on Cartoon Network. As I grew older, I interacted with more friends from the other gender and became aware of the vicious activities committed by other men. Almost everyone went through a trauma that involved a male pedophile. Don’t take me wrong but female pedophiles do exist too but the fact that sex is celebrated by men that they take it as an achievement rather than a trauma. I run an anonymous Instagram page called ‘Ferra Nova’ and apparently creeps believe it is run by a girl, therefore on two instances, I have been emailed D*CK Pictures along with cheap pickup lines. As a boy, such instances sent shrills down my spine, and I cannot imagine how a girl would have reacted to such things.
The recent movement where harassers were exposed was absolutely beautiful in my opinion. It began on an excellent note and people whom we were pretty sure of, were punished for their acts, even if it included teachers. However, even it turned into a typical Pakistani movement where personal vendettas prompted people to make up fake scenarios with major loopholes in the plot to defame others. You didn’t even need to prove anything, just type a name and every single keyboard warrior would back your claim with insults and abuses for the accused. Perfect! Such acts brought the end to a beautiful movement. However, there was another case that left me shell-shocked. Someone was accused and he came out with his friends, defying the claims, with his friends sharing stories on Instagram, etc. The next day, he made a video, accepting his mistake and claimed he’s sorry. Then what? Yeah, he was celebrated as a hero as if he found a cure for Corona. What the hell is wrong with us? Would we be celebrating if the harassed girl was our relative or friend? Our double standards are the reason why such acts emerge! Similarly, there was a group who would even go to Aurat March and other protests to show support for women empowerment but fast-forward months into the future, they failed to condemn their own friend who was exposed as a predator by several women by claiming, “Main ussay samjhaoon ga”. I don’t know, I may end up with several backlashes after such statements but this is the bitter truth whether we like it or not.
“Aap ko Kamasutra Kaisa lagta hay?” Believe it or not, this was the first question I was asked at my internship at a prestigious bank by one of the people working there. I didn’t even know what it was and the other intern sitting next to me jumped up from his seat in excitement and elaborated on other things related to porn. A Minute later, two women (who were his colleges) passed by and the guy asked the other intern “Konsi body pasand hay?” My jaws dropped hearing this, expecting the intern to shrug with unease yet he replied, describing curves, etc. That was my first day there and I lost the motivation to even work there. Went straight to my dad once back home and he helplessly told me that such weirdos do exist and I should just avoid them. THE ADDICTION TO PORN IS KILLING US MORALLY! WE ARE TREATING WOMAN AS AN OBJECT AND TRYING TO EMULATE WHAT THOSE PAID ACTORS DO TO SATISFY OUR OWN LUST AND HUNGER FOR SEX! Porn showcases men dominating women which converts into our fantasies to exercise such power! Unsurprisingly, I know people who show no remorse whatsoever over their porn addiction and dismiss all accusations by shaming you for not watching it.
We have objectified women. In a regular conversation with boys, you would regularly hear them saying “Bus yar ab Aik BACHI chahiye”. They say this with a sense of superiority as if they can be acquired like their Gucci shoes, MacBooks, or even YSL belts. Once, I even heard men flexing about the number of girls whose nudes they have. While I never understand why they send them in the first place, such inappropriate actions are seen as social status. We are followers of a religion that asks us to lower our gaze when dealing with the opposite genders, but here, our eyes light up at wardrobe malfunctions. Rather than helping out girls or even letting them know, we follow them in a subtle way and treat them as our eye candy.
You can’t really blame the upcoming generation when our senior actors, come up and glorify cheating as an achievement. No wonder why divorce rates are rising at an unexplainable level and families are struggling to stay intact. Cheating automatically becomes something that should be tried as our idols practice it and flex their ability to hide it from their partners. The concept of loyalty has been thrown down the bin! Having an extramarital relationship? No worries! Just divorce your partner by claiming he/she couldn’t live with you, show remorse, and a month later introduce your new love-life to your family and announce your marriage.
You don’t have to agree with everything the Islamic scholars do or even with feminist movements too. There’s room for improvement on both sides and they need cooperation from us for deducing a perfect ideal society. We are quick to judge, violent, impatient, and critical, overlooking major chunks that we aren’t aware of. After the inhumane Zainab murder case, the Islamic jurists did amend the Hadood laws and made changes to cater to the modern-day needs but most of the nation isn’t aware and we quickly taunt Islamic jurists with slogans like “4 mard gawah Kahan say laaon”. Similarly, we aren’t even completely aware of the slogan “Mera Jism Meri Marzi” and believe it is a license to commit sins and label people advocating this as “sl*ts”. Come on, this is the 21st century and we are still fighting the blame game, diverting attention from the main matter at hand. Our history just erases accounts of rape and female degradation (Independence and War of 1971) to maintain an image that we are the ideal Islamic State.
Moving on to some “prestigious” police offers of our beloved Police Department. We were well aware of how incompetent they are to quite an extent but the audacity of the newly-appointed CCPO clearly validates our claim that the force is useless. Rather than admitting that it was their failure to not be present or they are struggling to find the right people who are responsible for this crime, this ‘gentleman’ tried to rationalize rape by placing the blame altogether on the victim herself. Right, now most of you may think it isn’t possible, but the fact is that he questioned the traveling of the woman at the late hour of the night. So, our highly competent officer indirectly provided a time limit for more than half of the population of the country. So just a heads up, if you see a criminal next time who is about to approach you, immediately tell him that you are in the correct time (the time the CCPO believes is safe) and the criminal should wait for midnight to begin his criminal activities. Such a lovely guy! Set the rules for interaction and crime. Nevertheless, the blatant statement by the CCPO clearly represents the patriarchal thinking and the inevitable victim-blaming that follows such barbarous acts.
A year ago, one of my close female friends ordered an electrical taser from DARAZ while she was living in the university dorms. Curiously, I asked for a reason as to why this is necessary and at that moment wasn’t amused by the answer whatsoever. Apparently, since I wasn’t satisfied with the answer, the whole world decided to tell me WHY IT IS NEEDED! First, I had to listen to Careem stories, then the harassment fiasco that followed, and finally this……….GET A PISTOL INSTEAD OF A TASER!
Capital Punishment? Yeah, surely they deserve this but does this ensure no more cases in the future? I highly doubt that. I do not have a solution to such hideous and vicious crimes but we can all try to become better, right? It won’t hurt if we coexist with equal rights, mutual respect, and eliminating the sense of superiority just because of our gender (even Aristotle, one of the brightest minds ever was highly misogynist and believed women were incomplete men). Finally, we have to change the basic stereotype too. We have a belief that if we see two people from opposite genders together, we automatically assume that they’re deeply in love or are “BHAI ZONED”. Normalize having friendships with opposite genders! Only interaction and mutual understanding can help normalize some of the issues that are surfacing. And on the death anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it is pivotal to ask, would Jinnah really approve of this nation? Muslim daughters saved from the dominant Hindus, falling into the hands of Monsters who call themselves citizens of this nation!
Ask yourself, would you remain silent if this was someone you knew?
If we don’t speak up now, won’t be long before we live to regret this day or our silence……..
I have personally lost hope from our Judicial Departments after the Sahiwal Incident, Quetta incident, and million other cases where there was concrete proof but the offenders were released due to pressure from several stakeholders.
