The Rally to Ratify Rape in Pakistan

Something shameless, chauvinistic, and sh*tty happened last Sunday, Dec. 10. Protesters numbering 8000 according to some estimates marched out to denounce the Women Protection Bill, which was passed into law to prevent the injustices usually meted out on women during the prosecution of rape cases in Pakistan. There, until presently, these cases were handled in accordance with the Hudood Ordinances, a set of legislations instituted in 1979 by a military ruler and with absolutely no origins from Islamic dictate. Under these frankly ludicrous rules, a rape victim had either to produce four male witnesses to prove the crime, or face the incredulous possibility of prosecution for adultery. As a result, Pakistani women are inveterately violated without defence, and the defaulters saunter out their cells "with a cigar and a smile", so to speak. Such was what happened in March '05, when five of the men who raped Ms. Mukhtar Mai were acquitted and one of the village elders who ordered the rape had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

Now, what in the world justifies the rape of a woman as punishment for another relative's indiscretions! What surah in which version of the Qu'ran deems it right – make that righteous – to violate a vessel of Allah for the iniquities of another just because this vessel happens to be female? Which of the female protesters from that Sunday march would volunteer for a gang-rape by their male counterparts before suffering the double indignity of incarceration because she could not produce 4 witnesses? And how in the heck is a rape victim under the blur of sexual assault and psychological (never mind physical) prostration supposed to ensure that ONE witness, let alone 4 male witnesses, is on stand-by while the outrage is going on! Even if such an improbability were possible, how many men in witness of a rape would accede to testify, especially where the likelihood is they were hardly 'passive observers' themselves? Hell, that scenario only features in jail showers when some rookie convict makes the damnest error and drops the soap!

Yeah, something real sh*tty happened that Sunday, and quite sadly, there are no indicators that these bigoted bandwagon marches, which are steadily incubating a culture of crime in the name of religion, may not happen again. Isn't there a saying that those who forget their history are more likely to repeat it?