THIS is apropos of Faisal Siddiqi’s article ‘Ordeal of rape victims’ (Jan 3). The writer has raised two good points. Firstly, NGOs, civil society activists and the government support the rape victims soon after the incident, but later they are abandoned.

Secondly, cases of rape victims are handed over to the lower judiciary that is not competent enough to understand the ordeal of the victim and punish the perpetrators.

Violence against women is on the rise in Pakistan. According to Aurat Foundation’s report ‘Qualitative review of statistics 2009’ (June 30, 2010), in 2008 there were 7,571 cases of violence against women, which rose to 8,544 in 2009 with an upward trend of 13 per cent.

These included 5,722 cases in Punjab, 1,762 in Sindh, 655 in KPK, 237 in Balochistan and 172 in Islamabad. Out of the total, there were 928 cases of rape/gang rape.

These increasing figures of violence indicate that the main culprits are never punished; hence there is rise in the number of incidents.

The perpetrators of violence, especially rapists, are at large because they are influential and get away with these crimes from the lower judiciary.

The few laws that exist in Pakistan for safety of women’s rights and their protection from various forms of violence remain unimplemented.

Women protection bills such as ‘Potection of Women at Workpace’ were passed at the beginning of 2010.

Although this law, on paper, recommends three years’ jail sentence and fine of Rs500,000, such severe punishments are never imposed because the lower judiciary is not immune to corruption and hence the influential get away with these cases by using money.

There is a need to bring a change in the mindsets of the men and implement laws to punish the perpetrators. According to a survey of the Pew Research Centre, a Washington-based independent organisation, ‘nearly 64 per cent of Pakistani men believe that university education is more important for men than women’.

The main reason behind the increase of violence against women is a lack of interest on the part of the government. The government is being run by the elite class and the rape victims are from the middle/lower class, whereas some of the elite class are either involved in such acts or support the perpetrator of violence.

Some instances from the past and the incumbent governments will suffice to clarify it.

When Mukhtaran Mai was gang-raped, the then president, Pervez Musharaf, instead of ordering severe action against the rapists, ridiculed the victim by stating: “Rape has become a drama in Pakistan just to get instant popularity or to fly abroad”.

The same is the case with this government: recently a woman adviser to the Sindh chief minister ridiculed the story of a recent gang-rape victim of Karachi saying: “Her story carries some lies as well”.

Moreover, the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2009 was allowed to lapse in December. This shows the intentions of the government in protecting women from various forms of violence.

Although the apex court takes suo motu actions against rapists, these suo motu actions don’t provide much relief to the victims because the investigators are locals and most of them are not immune from the pressure of influential people, thus they don’t include the names of all involved in the particular incident.

There is a dire need that the government should constitute a special committee in each province to investigate the cases of violence against women and these cases should never be run in the lower judiciary but in the high court of each province.

Inayatullah R. Wahi Pandhi, Johi taluka