What is there for a virus to kill in a morally corrupt nation?
By Raja Shoaib Wali
Sexual abuse and rape of a 15-year-old boy from Skardu was reported recently. According to authentic media persons the accused (Muzaffar, Mubarak and Tajammul) threatened to rape the victim’s elder brother and kill his father if he tries to open up about the incident to anyone. Scared, the young boy did what any boy of the same age would have done, because of fear, embarrassment, guilt, shame and many uncountable reasons. He chose to remain silent and those animals did this heinous crime not once, not twice but for the last 6 months and also recorded their crime. Almost 50 video clips were later recovered by authorities; not to mention that this is the least number of times the young boy got raped.
Just think of that boy for a minute! What would have gone through his head when he was being subjected to sexual violence? Don’t you think he asked the question “Why Me?” Don’t you think he would have begged for mercy? Don’t you think he would’ve screamed for help? Don’t you think he would’ve thought of himself responsible for bringing shame to his family? And lastly, the most depressing and serious thought of admitting that he deserved this….. Could this thought have crossed his mind?
Just think of the trauma he has gone through, and unfortunately the scars which are now left on his life can never be replaced by any plastic surgery or modern sciences.
Now let’s talk about the solution. To those arguing and claiming that public hanging of the culprits is going to end this disease for once and for all, let me jog your memory! Just after the execution of the notorious Imran Ali for the rape and murder of Zainab, another incident from Kasur took the front page of media for raping and killing three young children. And not to forget Javed Iqbal who confessed murder of 100 young boys and the Judge in his judgment wrote that,
“You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose child you killed. Your body will be cut into 100 pieces and put in acid, the same way you killed the children.”
And, most importantly, here I would like to mention the ATC Judge, Mehmood-ul-Hasan, who sentenced a child abuser with life imprisonment, making it a record of providing justice in just 7 days. These judgements were celebrated by majority of the people for the reason that we love violence. Therefore, when we offer “solution” for rape, like “hang the rapists, lynch them, kill them”, people just love the ideas! But when you ask them to educate both genders about sexual abuse, people generally don’t like it!
Now is the right time for us to take necessary actions as soon as possible. I had a history professor who used to say, “History repeats itself”; if our efforts are not bringing the change we desire then we must not be doing it in a right way. It is the responsibility of the all the stack holders i.e. Parents, Institutions and Government etc. to teach our children how to protect themselves against sexual abuse but but but….. irony is that it is a taboo subject in Muslim majority countries.
