The latest incidents of harassment of women at a PTI rally in Lahore reveal some fundamental flaws regarding the discourse about women.

Almost as soon as the despicable incident happened, the media and all the political parties turned it into an issue of harassment of PTI women. To make matters worse, the PTI turned it into an issue of the PML-N sending goons to harass "PTI women" -- as if being a woman just did not cut it. What happened in Lahore at that rally was wrong not because it showed that a particular party cannot provide security at its rallies, but because it showcased the vulnerability of women in public spaces.

The PML-N’s suggestion that this somehow suggests institutional weakness of the PTI as a political party is downright ridiculous. If anything, this argument on principle goes against the PML-N. If disturbances at a political party’s rallies show weakness of the party, then what does failure of the PML-N government to curb corruption and terrorism in the entire country mean?

Of course this never occurred to the Interior Minister or the Provincial Law Minister. They were too busy making this issue about political parties rather than the women of this country. Harassment of women occurs every day and most of it goes unreported. Crimes of sexual violence occur against women every day and they do not occur at political parties’ rallies in front of the media’s glare -- no one films the shrieks.

This does not make this latest incident any less grave, it just means that the PML N’s barrage of statements that this problem is peculiar to PTI rallies is disingenuous and irresponsible.

PTI’s rallies need to be celebrated because of the mix of men, women and children it brings out into our public spaces. I have no love lost for that party but, just like other parties, it does contribute to the rainbow that is our fractured, frustrating, divisive yet ultimately exhilarating political space. Sure, because the PTI brings out women in large numbers from various classes the rallies will attract some hooligans. However the blame for that cannot be laid on the PTI.

The guilty party here is patriarchy. And all political parties, as indeed citizens, contribute to it. No one political party or its activities can be held responsible for exposing women to danger. The PTI did not do the cause of women any favours by saying that the harassment occurred because of some grand scheme orchestrated by the PML N. The ruling party for its part made it clear that Imran Khan himself should be investigated for this.

The only unheard voice in this story? The women. That is patriarchy for you.

A woman’s political identity is irrelevant to the amount of suffering she is exposed to -- particularly in this country and generally across the world. That is the central truth that both the PTI and PML-N are obfuscating when they talk about each other. The "PML-N" women need to shed the PML-N part when sympathising with the "PTI women" -- just being a woman in this situation, or a decent human being, ought to be enough.

The longer we use structural problems, that affect us all equally, to further our own political agenda, the longer we shall continue to suffer. Till this culture of glossing over violence to engage in political point scoring is changed, there is little hope of us making meaningful progress. And let us take this a step further. Fine, some political point scoring is always expected from such incidents. But one would hope that in the rainbow of opinions coming forward, at least someone would hit the really relevant chord. Yet no one did.

The prime minister, when taking notice of the issue, need not clothe his actions in generosity towards a political rival -- but towards a vulnerable community in this country, i.e. women. The ruling government has been deliberately referring to the PTI rallies again because they know that if the government can get people to believe that the PTI rallies are unsafe for women to attend, this will result in gains for the ruling party. There is a certain kind of violence in such thought. The ruling party is not making this about women because it knows that it will look bad -- since the condition of women in this country will eventually be attributed to, among others, those currently managing the state. This is something that feminist groups must counter.

Yes, each political party will attract a particular kind of crowd. But that does not mean that the danger posed to women, and the way we ignore their plight, is limited to one political party. How many feminists did the media call to discuss the issue of violence towards women when this incident happened? And when no one sees the problem of the oppressed class, those within the class must take up the mantle. You can point to the plight of men, and the plight of particular classes in general (both men and women) -- but you cannot ignore the gender element. And we must not allow our politicians to insult our intelligence by treating violence against women as an exercise in political theatre.

No NADRA driven investigation will solve the problem. That is akin to picking up the bodies after the firing squad has done its job. The mental scars inflicted on the women who were there, who suffered or even saw this on television will live with them a long way. This latest violence will interfere with dreams and self-esteem. None of this should happen. And it only happens because patriarchy is the biggest political party in town. The least we can do is stop waving its flag at every chance we get.