Another incident of harassing a woman. Another flurry of condemnation. Once again, some people blaming the victim, while others shouting ‘yes all men’. What’s happening in my dear homeland. Why women are targeted, harassed and molested in broad daylight in a public place by crowds. Have we lost all our ethics, morality and religious teachings? I think we need to dig a bit deeper and find out why all of this is happening. The simple answer would be that people think they can harass a woman in broad day light, in a park, in front of a crowd and yet they will get away with it because there is no law which can stop them. Well on paper many laws are there but practical implementation is nearly zero. That’s why a person like Zahir Jaffar thinks that he can murder a girl and can get away with it. That’s why 400 men on Minar e Pakistan think they can get away with public harassment.
The worst part of this story is victim blaming. A lot of people are asking why was she there and why did she call her fans? Well she wasn’t there to get harassed and she didn’t call her fans to harass her. So the victim blaming should stop. And the laws should be implemented appropriately.
This whole incident instigated another debate that should we ban Tiktok and similar apps. Well banning an app won’t do any service. Its an era of technology and how many apps can we ban when tons of apps are hitting the market on daily basis. Its time to be more responsible about using social media and implement cyber crime laws. Our institutions are outdated and they really don’t know how to deal with cyber crimes. We need a proactive approach in swift implementation of laws. So that everyone knows that they cannot get away with it. Also, we need to teach our youth how to behave in public. They should know the dos and don’ts of the technology. Appropriately usage of technology should be part of curriculum at every level. Our kids need to understand their moral and social obligations. If we don’t act now, Pakistan will become more and more miserable place to live in.
