THIS is a country where the abuse of women’s rights and sexual assault is endemic, and where the cases linked to these that do see the light of day constitute the merest tip of the iceberg of violence. Given this, it would have been logical to suppose that law-enforcement and judicial authorities across our towns and cities would make the detection and prosecution of suspects in such cases a priority. Sadly, that would have been to suppose wrong. Leave aside the many forms of brutality that women are subjected to every day in the private domain. Consider only the most heinous crime of rape, and its incidence in Islamabad — right under the nose of the hub of government, law enforcement and the judicial system. Over the past five years, 103 rape cases have been registered with the police in the capital, and 150 accused have been arrested. But how many convictions have been achieved? As senators were informed to their shock on Thursday — none. Not even one person has been convicted in any of these rape cases, although 30 suspects have been acquitted and 53 cases are still pending trial.

What the situation is in other parts of the country, especially in rural or remote areas where the bias against women is more marked, can only be guessed at. On Thursday, all the opposition senators staged a token walkout as a mark of protest against the non-performance of the police and judicial system. But that is hardly going far enough. The most basic element of curbing rape and other forms of violence against women is successful pursuit and prosecution. When no push is evident to prioritise even this, how can we expect to start bringing such dark crimes out into the open?