SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
Like India rape is also a serious problem in India’s neighbor and bitter rival, Pakistan. Rapes occur across Pakistan for a wide array of reasons – for pure lust, for revenge, to avenge a rejected marriage proposal, for religious and ethnic reasons, or simply to satisfy a predatory man’s desire to exert unadulterated brutality and power. The problem with Pakistan is that most of the case are under-reported as the victims and their families. keep the matter hidden because of the shame and disgrace attached to the crime. Another Problem is that Rape survivors are pressurized into withdrawing the complaint and not pursuing the matter further through intimidation or out of court settlements. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s (HRCP) 2013 report, 2,576 cases of rape were registered in Punjab in 2013 – the highest among all provinces. According to official records, 127 cases of rape and three cases of gang-rape were registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa last year, whereas 27 cases of gang-rape were reported in Sindh. The conviction rate in cases of sexual and other violence against women remained critically low. However in an unprecedented moveTwo convicted rapists Abid Maqsud and Sanaullah alias Billu will be hanged at the district jail on April 22.
Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Bushra Zaman issued black warrants for their execution in an 18-year-old girl’s gang-rape case.Mercy appeals of the convicted had been rejected by the Lahore High Court, the Supreme Court and the Presidency.
According to the prosecution, Maqsud and Sanaullah had gang-raped a girl in Begowala village, Sambrial tehsil, on Aug 29, 1997.The Gujranwala ATC had awarded death sentence to the convicts on June 24, 1998. Hanging rape accused is a step towards a right direction because until capital punishment awarded to rapists, this hienous crime cannot be controlled. Another step that should be emphasized is the reporting of rape cases as more than 70% rape cases are not reported due to fear of family respect and honor, such women force or police should be constituted that secretly investigate the issue and send its report to courts, so that cuplprits could be punished without any stigma to the victim.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
