Is society responsible for Zainab tragedy?

Shiffa Yousafzai | 

There is so much on my mind since last night that I can’t decide where to start from. I couldn’t stop myself from reading about Zainab and who tweeted what about her. Almost all day long I kept waiting for several notable people to tweet about her abduction and rape but what I waited the most for, was, the Chief Justice of Pakistan taking notice of this case.

Now that Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Saqib Nisar, took notice of the brutal incident and ordered IGP Punjab to submit a report to the Supreme Court within 24 hours, I can’t wait for the rapist’s Iran-style hanging, Saudi-style beheading or Chinese-style castration. What they do to rapists in Iran and in some other countries is just amazing.

But then for that too we need sexual education and lectures about such taboo issues at schools – don’t we? Sigh! Older times were simpler. Now the world has become much darker and humanity has gone to its lowest ebb.

In Iran they hang the rapists in the public and leave them there for people to witness but what they do in China is even more satisfying – they castrate the rapists in some cases while in Saudi Arabia the rapist is beheaded. Why is it that we don’t get to witness an ‘Iran-style’ hanging of a rapist here in Pakistan? Kasur is a place which is now feared to have become a child abuse hub of Pakistan with more that 700 cases of child abuse been registered in the last three years.

Read more: Celebrities urge authorities to take action after minor’s rape in Kasur

This is high time that our government and we as a society recognize ‘pedophilia’ and ‘child molestation’ as a societal issue. Lets set an example this time so that no other Zainab would have to go through this pain. I would humbly request CJP to consider these punishments for this particular case – imprisonment for life won’t help much to eradicate such maniacs from our society if we want to make it a safer place for our children.

I am not talking about the failures of my government but there is a lesson that Zainab is trying to convey to all of us, which is, educate your child not to trust anyone and catch onto warning signs and sexual advances.

But wait – did we hear about anybody punished, given life or death penalty in all these previous years? Sadly, I cannot recall any. I can just hope that this time it’s going to be different. While I suggest punishments, I would also like to throw some questions out there for our academics, psychologists, policy makers, educationists, parents and all those involved in a child’s mental and emotional development to ponder upon – and it would be great if they could find answers to all or some of the questions below in this piece.

Why are most of the rape cases taking place in rural areas and why are most rapists from the rural areas of the country? In rural areas we don’t have many private co-ed schools. What we have there are public (segregated) schools for boys and girls.

Read more: Massive protests break out across Kasur to condemn the rape and…

In the 21st century why don’t we allow our children to sit, play and study together irrespective of their sexes? Boys grow up with a rising amount of frustration watching pornographic and sexually suggestive material. Is it still not necessary to allow and let the counselors, sexologists and psychologists go to schools to make students aware about sexuality and issues involving sexual education?

The frustration among young boys and girls both is rising and this tells that we as a nation are not progressing but regressing. We need to change the way we look at girls and we certainly need to change the way we raise our boys.

Why in the 21st century a young girl of 14 or 15 years of age walking with a red stain on her shirt is looked at as if she is some kind of alien? If we can teach the students of 7th or 8th grade how reproduction takes place in a toad then why can’t we teach them and talk to them about a woman’s menstrual cycle and reproductive system? And why can’t we tell our boys that the sanitary napkins that you silently look at in the malls are for your mom and sister when they are having their menstrual period?

For God’s sake accept it as a natural process and don’t make it look like a crime being committed.

Read more: Little Zainabs will continue to be raped, murdered & dumped on…

What girls can’t do/talk about/share with parents?

We cannot talk about sexuality, we cannot talk about our period and hormones, we cannot talk about finding a guy handsome, we cannot talk about who we want to get married to, we cannot be friends with boys, we cannot go and hang out with them (as if they are the enemies), we cannot smoke (because its something men do – who said that by the way?), and the toughest is while you’re buying sanitary pads at a supermarket, it feels as if we are shop lifting…

But wait – did we hear about anybody punished, given life or death penalty in all these previous years? Sadly, I cannot recall any. I can just hope that this time it’s going to be different.

The frustration among young boys and girls both is rising and this tells that we as a nation are not progressing but regressing. We need to change the way we look at girls and we certainly need to change the way we raise our boys.

Read more: Child abuse continues unabated in Pakistan

I am not talking about the failures of my government but there is a lesson that Zainab is trying to convey to all of us, which is, educate your child not to trust anyone and catch onto warning signs and sexual advances. But then for that too we need sexual education and lectures about such taboo issues at schools – don’t we?

Sigh! Older times were simpler. Now the world has become much darker and humanity has gone to its lowest ebb.

Shiffa Yousafzai is a freelance writer; She is an International Alumni Ambassador for Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, where she studied Multimedia Journalism. Earlier, she graduated with business and marketing at Air University, Islamabad. She had been vice-president Air University Cultural Society; She is a singer and has performed in cultural events. Shiffa could be followed on twitter @Shiffa_ZY and on facebook @Shiffa Z. Yousafzai. The views expressed in this article are authors own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.