Girl victim of revenge rape in Mulan. For Justice and Peace Commission, such is the plight of women
A 16-year-old girl is raped to wash away her brother’s sin of raping a 12-year-old girl. Multan police arrest 20 people involved. The violence is the fruit of a feudal mindset. Locals do not trust government institutions and turn to illegal village councils.
Lahore (AsiaNews) – Pakistani police arrested 20 people in connection with the rape of a 16-year-old girl, who was punished out of "revenge" for her brother's alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl.
The arrests took place in Multan district, Punjab, where the local panchayat or village council ordered the rape. The latter was done in front of the eyes of the two families involved to "wash away the faults" of her brother.
Speaking to AsiaNews Ata-ur-Rehman Saman, coordinator of the National Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan, slammed the incident noting that it “blatantly speaks about the plight of women and lack of will of the government to address the core issues" of violence against women.
For Hamza Arshad, a well-known Muslim educator, “Some, if not all, areas of Pakistan have centuries old tribal culture which fails to keep up with the march of civilization.” Sadly, “Deep rooted ignorance, wild ego and bestial vengeance weave the iron wrap of this culture” inspired by “misogynist ideas, sadism and untameable wild nature of [a] feudal cult.”
Even more chilling is the fact “The heinous act is meant to punish a culprit who is a male. The mockery of all sense and humanity is that a girl has to bear the brunt of this act where the offender was a male.” And worse still, “It shows that we have no rule of law and our justice system has failed to safeguard the poor and the weak.”
The panchayat, or "jirga", is council of village elders. Its actions are illegal, but by tradition, rural communities rely on their decisions to settle disputes.
Zafar Iqbal, a Christian activist, believes that their authority reflects the lack of trust in “government and law enforcement institutions. Most people in the country believe that these institutions cannot protect their rights. Therefore, they choose such illegitimate ways to seek justice."
Seeking an eye for an eye comes from the fact that “there are many loop holes and lacunas which often provide safe way out for culprits. We have many examples where the victims of rape could not get justice and they committed suicide.”
To avoid this, the “government should improve the judiciary system and outmoded ways of police investigations. We should also denounce the social and religious taboos which encourages the village courts."
“The incident clearly indicates the parallel judicial avenues that exist in Pakistani society,” said Samson Salamat, a human rights activist and chairperson of Rwadari Tehreek (movement for tolerance and pluralism). These “are always dangerous and discriminate against women and girls.”
The situation “also exposes the weak justice system and the negligence of governance all around, which has been busy with other issues and has not focused on addressing the human rights abuses which happen very day in society.”
Ata-ur-Rehman Saman agrees. “Pakistan became a nuclear power because we were convinced to have it,” he noted. “Similarly, things would turn to better when our rulers will have the will to do so.” Yet, “how many years will take them to realise this.”
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