No place is safe

Women are not safe in this country. If anyone needed any confirmation of that – women certainly don’t need confirmation; they are reminded of this fact every single day – the rape of a woman driving from Lahore to Gujranwala late at night on Wednesday proves this. The woman was driving to Gujranwala, along with her children, when her car ran out of fuel. She called a relative who was attempting to reach her, while he also advised her to call the motorway police helpline, which she did. It is alleged there was no response. And then the worst possible nightmare began for the family. ‘Robbers’ who found the woman alone with the children dragged her to the fields and raped her in front of her children. A bracelet and money were also stolen from her purse.

The police say they are ‘close’ to capturing the criminals, that 12 suspects have been arrested, and that crucial evidence has been collected. This horrific crime has seen an outcry over social media as well as mainstream media. People are demanding public hanging of the rapists, but as we have found in the past, public hangings or any kind of such punishment does not help stop violence – against women, particularly. The challenges women face even as victims were clearly highlighted by the victim-blaming statement by CCPO Lahore Umar Sheikh’s. According to Sheikh, he found it ‘surprising’ that a ‘mother of three’ would take the route that she chose and not check her petrol tank before getting on the said route. If this is what a senior police official, responsible for the protection of citizens (which include women), thinks then who can women turn to? The fact that the CCPO thought it was perfectly fine to question the victim’s going out late at night, taking a specific route, not being ‘responsible’ enough about her car is an honest mirror into our society. The message given to every woman in the country: don’t step out at night; don’t get stuck in a car emergency because if you do you will be attacked.

When women say they wish to reclaim space, this is what they mean. That a woman should not have to step out of her house hoping and praying that she is not attacked for the simple reason of stepping out of her house. A safe return home every day from work or from school or anywhere else should not be an achievement for a woman. Safety needs to be the norm, not the exception. The police need to be protectors not patronizing judges of morality and behaviour. Motorways and highways and streets need to be just that, a path from one place to the next – not nightmare-inducing scenes of horrific crime. And till all this and more is ensured to the women of the country, no one has the right to tell them they are safe here. They know they are not.