Let us hang our heads in shame

Qudsia Kadri Khan

Horrific, unbelievable, degrading, disgusting and totally shocking words cannot describe the barbaric act of rape committed against Pakistan Petroleum's lady doctor in Sui, Dera Bugti. The shameless response of PPL authorities in trying to cover up the barbaric and inhuman act against the serving medical lady doctor on 2nd January cannot be penned down.
The apathy of the PPL Chief Medical Officer to describe this human torture as a mere case of theft in order to protect the criminals involved in the rape and the particular organisation they belong to amounts to connivance and abetment of a crime as described under the Criminal Procedure Court (CrPC) of Pakistan.
The cover up by Pakistan Petroleum led to the extent that the lady doctor, after the rape, was illegally confined to hospital and then transported to Karachi so that no statement of the doctor could be recorded by the police, and impediments were put in the way of the police to bring any investigation to a halt.
What standard operating procedures were followed, was there any conscientious approach to the recording of the investigation in order to detect the exact nature of the crime and arrest the offenders, was a professional approach taken by the concerned organisation (PPL) and were the big bosses of the organisation providing proper advice and guidance? The answer, sadly, to all the above is No. It is only when immediate and early arrests are made that forensic evidence can be gathered and matched with the suspects.
The provincial government of Balochistan seems quite helpless and has asked the centre to help them control the outbreak of violence in Dera Bugti and the backlash of this crime. The appeal to the rapists to come forward and explain their position by the provincial cabinet is incredulous and projects them as totally fragile and helpless.
The government has failed to protect the women of this nation, it has failed to uphold the dignity, the honour and the prestige of its mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. Please let us not talk anymore of human rights, of giving equal opportunities to women of Pakistan, of allocating seats for women in the assemblies. It all sounds so pathetic, so ironic, so shameless.
Let us hang our heads in shame and suffer in silence. Let us realise as Muslims that we have turned a blind eye to the crime of rape to protect certain individuals. We have decided to hamper justice, to prevent the worst kind of punishment to be meted out to these predators of human dignity.