TO imagine the state of mind of Nizam Mai is to stare madness in the face. In a country where rape is often not reported to even families, let alone the law, her teenaged daughter was determined to seek justice. Even when the main suspect was granted bail last month, the rape victim refused to give up and went to the Bet Mir Hazar police station to lodge a protest. One does not know how the conversation went, but the fact is that she exited the police station, doused herself with petrol, and set herself ablaze. The burns she suffered led to her death, and her desperate act can only be taken as evidence of the level of confidence with which she viewed her chances of getting justice. That her mother complained on Wednesday that pressure was being put on her to drop the case — even though the Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of it — is a shameful, damning indictment of the state and the priority it affords to women’s rights and safety.

There can be no denying that victims of rape in Pakistan must resort to desperate measures just to draw attention to their plight, let alone hold out any hope for justice. It was just a few days ago, after all, that in Layyah, a rape victim and her mother put themselves in a cage in the forlorn hope that the police might be induced to pursue the investigation with more seriousness. In this case, the suspects had been released at the request of a member of the National Assembly. Will this situation ever improve? Not until this crime is brought out of the shadows and prioritised by the law enforcement and justice systems. Every country that has relentlessly pursued rape cases has seen a drop in the incidence rate; every country where the police has been sensitised to women’s rights has seen improvements. Pakistan’s problem is the fact that the state does not seem interested.