In our reactionary and misogynistic society, rape is not seen as grave a crime, as it really is. In India, in the wake of recent rape incidents, a couple of provincial ministers made statements mitigating the crime of the rapists.

In a television interview, when the ex-amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Munawar Hasan was asked what a woman should do if she cannot find four witnesses to her his condescending answer was: “she should remain quiet”. Even the enlightened and liberal dictator Musharraf told the western media, while talking about the Mukhtaran Mai case, that some women use rape as an easy way to get visas to and residencies in western countries.

Akbar Jan Marwat

Islamabad