THE harrowing incident of a woman gang-raped in front of her children on M-11 is a manifestation of savagery that has taken hold of our society. It is not the first case where Eve’s daughter has been made the victim of a heinous crime.

Thousands of hapless women have been raped or faced sexual harassment over the decades. It is unfortunate that most of the time the perpetrators are not held accountable. Owing to this, the perpetrators continue to intimidate vulnerable women with impunity.

Pakistan, especially Punjab, paints a frightening picture when it comes to women harassment. About 3,885 cases of rape and 12,650 cases of kidnapping of women were reported in 2019. This is indeed a sorry state of affairs.

It is high time the state took immediate and severe action against the perpetrators of crimes that denigrate the dignity of women. The onus is on our patriarchal society to shelter the vulnerable women from being stigmatised.

Ammar Aslam Muhammadi
Sukkur

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ONE would have thought the rape and murder of little Zainab was a one-of-its-kind case and perhaps the last one in the history of sordid acts committed in this country. How wrong we were.

Our society has degraded itself to a new low where individuals have become insensitive to children’s cries while satiating their lust.

More importantly, we need to think about thousands of other children being brought up in similar circumstances. With 20 million children out of school, how can one expect a progressive society where there is no respect for individual and human rights?

To quote from Dorothy Nolte’s poem ‘Children Learn What they Live’ it is by inculcating inspiring values of compassion, love and respect that our society would thrive and progress.

To stop the rot, we need to carry out drastic reforms to guarantee a safe and healthy environment for all our children

Hamza Nasar
Quetta

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2020