Pakistan’s minister for science and technology has expressed his views on issues with public hangings in Pakistan for culprits of rape. The sminister remarked in a tweet that punishing criminals was reasonable and demanding for justice by hanging publically was people’s way of expressing anger. As per minister Pakistan is believed to be the top most country to give death sentence to criminals whereas, there is no such trend in any of the European countries but still their crime rate is lessor than Pakistan.
People Demanding Public Hangings in Pakistan in Wake of Recent Rape Cases
The recent incident of rape that took place on motorway has outraged Pakistanis; they are demanding the start of public hangings in Pakistan to punish the culprits and make an example out of them; for this they are running even hashtags.
Those asking to hang the criminals in public don’t include the ordinary people but also the celebrities. Anchor person, actor Vassay Chaudhary who wrote the script of film Jawani Phir Nahi Aani asserted that using human rights for not hanging the culprits was merely an excuse. He supposedly opined that God forbid if something similar happened to your (authorities) mother, sister or daughter, then how would you justify logics and human rights.
A random Twitter user mentioned Fawad Chauhdry with respect to actor’s tweet to which he replied that Pakistan was already hanging culprits, if not publicly but still the crime rate was not down.
Why There Is More Demand for Public Hangings in Pakistan
In Pakistan the rape cases are increasing day by day and there doesn’t seem any solution to it. People who are furious have blamed ruling authorities for not taking a stand against criminals. They have demanded to publically hang or punish the filthy creatures who prey on defenseless women.
The reason why people were in favor of public hangings in Pakistan is that, when allegedly Zia Ul Haq ordered to hang a rapist at Minar e Pakistan, rape incidents were paused for 15 years. Women and men demanded to provide justice to all those innocents who became the victim of this plague imposed by mentally sick and frustrated monsters.
Well, there is a lack of evidence on whether Pakistan witnessed a decrease in reporting or rape cases after alleged public hangings in Pakistan during Zia’s era or lessor reporting was due to other reasons.
Rape- A Systematic issue
For the world, public hangings in Pakistan might be disturbing for being an issue of human rights violations. However, they may prove insufficient due to the very nature of rape incidents in Pakistan. The motorway incident was not only one of its kind. Women and kids in the country can face sexual abuse even at the hands of family members and relatives; in such cases, the fear of severe punishment may bar victims from reporting the incidents and the situation may get worst. The solid step in this regard can be to take steps at a systematic level; that can include teaching kids from a young age about consent and the importance of respecting the fellow members etc. as a long-run measure but it can take time. Meanwhile, authorities must ensure the rule of law and work on making public places more inclusive. Instead of telling about the safe routes like CCPO Lahore did, they should work on making every route safe.
