ISLAMABAD: When Mukhtar Mai joined members of the Pakistan Nari Tehreek (PNT) at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) she did so to a standing ovation. Her speech too, was frequently interrupted by applause.

At the launch of the anti-rape campaign ‘Inkaar – Zabarjinsi Se’, Mukhtar Mai talked about the hopelessness she felt as a rape victim.

She said: “I thought about suicide often. I felt like the world had ended. When I went to register an FIR my [relatives] tried to stop me - they said [they] would kill [themselves] or [my attackers] would kill [them]. I said, ‘I have already died, it makes no difference to me if you do’.”

It was support from the media that inspired her to soldier on, she said, and to focus on education.

“Those who had stopped me were human, but so were the [media]. The difference was that they were educated. That is when I decided I would fight cruelty with knowledge.”

Mukhtar Mai said she focused primarily on promoting education for young women and has also set up a shelter for women victims of violence, and is helping them navigate legal issues and register FIRs. She has also set up a ‘mobile unit’ to rescue women in dangerous situations.

PNT is a national feminist movement which aims to shift the stigma attached to rape from the victim to the perpetrator.

Fouzia Saeed, a member, said they focused on rape because the roots of the issue are embedded deep into society.

The campaign coined the word zabarjinsi for ‘rape’ because there is no word in the Urdu language that encompasses the various types of sexual violence.

Another member, Ambareen, said the culture of fear in women – which she said was often represented by the phrase ‘kuch ho na jaye’ (what if something happens), uttered when women enter public spaces – needed to end.

Speakers said anti-rape laws needed to be implemented, and that flaws in existing laws needed to be addressed. They said rather than just helping rape victims, there was a need for behavioral changes to end the culture of zabarjinsi.

Men can also play their part in the campaign. Another wing of the drive, ‘Pakistani Men Against Rape’, is a movement for men to speak out against rape and support women’s rights in their communities and in their social groups.

Dr Kamran Ahmed, a psychologist, said: “We might not all be rapists, but nearly all of us, in some way, support rapists and support a society that shelters rapists from being exposed.”

Anchorperson Asma Shirazi declared her support for the movement and said: “Women know their rights, but men don’t know their responsibilities.”

PPP’s Rubina Khalid also pledged her support for the movement, as did Neelum Toro from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) and PML-N MNA Shaista Pervaiz.

Hum Aisey Kyun Hain

PNT also screened a documentary ‘Hum Aisey Kyun Hain’, which featured well known anchorpersons, including Asma Shirazi, Hamid Mir, Fareeha Idrees and Shahzeb Khanzada.

The documentary focused on the mainstream approach and understanding of rape. It featured stories of rape victims, including that of a young woman who set herself ablaze outside a Muzaffargarh police station.

The documentary said that rather than a response to sexual repression; sexual violence is often an expression of power and control over women.

Doctors featured in the film dispelled the claim that men committed rape because of a greater sexual appetite. They said that the sexual needs of men and women are the same. They difference, they said, was that women were not permitted to express their sexuality while men latched onto the false belief about varied sexual needs to explain away harassment, extramarital or polygamous relationships, and sexual violence.

The documentary and the event focused on the lack of justice for rape victims and the suspension of rape cases for several years. Mukhtar Mai said: “We are made to wait 12, 14 years and we don’t get justice.”

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2015

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