PUNJAB: Dishonouring women

EDITORIAL:DAILY TIMES.'' Dishonouring women ''

Maryam bibi refused to submit to her landlord’s sexual advances and was stoned to death in the wee hours of July 18 on the orders of a Panchayat (elders council) in Kacha Koh near Khanewal. This is not the first time that a woman has had to pay with her life for defending her honour. Disgracing women in public on the orders of a Panchayat is a routine thing in our villages. The famous case of Mukhtaran Mai is still relevant when the villagers, to compensate for the crime allegedly committed by Mai’s brother, blatantly dishonoured and raped her. Taking suo motu notice of Maryam’s killing, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has reprimanded the Inspector General (IG) Punjab Habib-ur-Rehman for not arresting the culprits so far. He has warned that if the culprits were not arrested, the IG would have to quit by July 23. The CJP has refused to accept the report by the police on the incident for being prepared with mala fide intentions. The court chastised the Chief Minister (CM) Punjab for his ignorance of the case and questioned his competence as the CM. The CJP took stern notice of the increasingly deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab. There are multiple sides to this case and all point to the general decadence of social norms in our country. One, it shows the situation of human rights in Pakistan, where people are killed dime a dozen and nobody is bothered. Two, it tells about the general absence of women’s rights in villages and small towns, where women are openly harassed by the rich and powerful and nobody is concerned. Three, it illustrates the role of landlords in power politics, who get away with crimes and no one dares put a hand on them. Four, it shows how inept and unreliable our police has become without any sign of improvement. Finally, it indicates the lack of interest of the provincial government in restoring law and order in its domain. However, this is not the case in Punjab alone; the entire Pakistan is bleeding to death owing to crimes. The suo motu notice taken by the CJP could have been avoided had the Punjab government taken serious timely actions against the culprits and provided justice to the aggrieved family. This is the point that the court is trying to establish. The late response time of the concerned people and their indifference to the situation is costing the country its harmony, dignity and value. Governments are in dire need of overhauling their administrative skills even in the absence of checks and balances and accountability.