“Girls who go to campuses definitely feel threatened,” 21-year-old Khadija Shabbir told AFP at a Monday protest in eastern Lahore city that was swiftly dismantled by authorities.
Senior officer Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi is charged with probing the case police insist has been conjured from unverifiable online rumours. But she admits it has struck a real chord on the issue of harassment in Pakistan, a patriarchal country where open discussion of abuse is taboo. “All of us somewhere have experienced it,” she says. “It’s an extremely sensitive subject.”
It began earlier this month with a swirl of social media posts alleging a staff member had raped a woman in the basement of a Punjab College campus in Lahore. When police and local media were unable to trace a victim, the local government and school administration dismissed the claims as a hoax.
But student protests broke out last Monday, escalating into unrest in Lahore and other cities later in the week that led to the arrests of at least 380 people over vandalism and arson. Educational institutes were shut across Punjab province last Friday – when protests are generally staged after prayers – and political gatherings were banned for two days, although officials gave no reason.
As a result, about 26 million children were out of school as well as many more university and college students in the country’s most populous province. But students, banned from officially organising in unions for the past four decades, have continued to come out this week.
The Punjab government has a women-only police emergency line where they report receiving 1,300 calls daily from women concerned about their safety. But with 80 percent of women saying they have been harassed in public places, according to the UN, there is little trust that authorities take the matter seriously.
“A girl I know in my university committed suicide because she was being harassed,” student Amna Nazar told AFP.
Lahore’s High Court has announced a new committee of judges to investigate campus sexual harassment, indicating authorities are conceding the protests have a point.
Student social media pages and online chat groups created to mobilise protestors have disappeared and officials have pledged that those spreading misinformation will be prosecuted.
SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Its a weird situation here. As most people don’t believe in nearly any sexual assault here due to, well, being an extreme right and Muslim state.
This case was kind of used for political reasons. Unfortunately another recorded case went viral 2 or 3 years ago which turned out to be an ‘influencers’ attempt to go viral. These cases further hurt any chance of
There is an unbelievable amount of sexual assault in Pakistan. I’m a man but every woman I know has told me some absolute horror story. I’m always stressed about my sister who’s a doctor. The same with exes or friends who’ve told me about stuff thats happened or terrible situations they’ve been in.
I also know how fucked up men are here. Its genuinely bizzare how people are pretty much ‘pro-rape’ here. I’ve lost friendships to people who actively defend rape. Long time friendships where I couldn’t look at people the same way anymore.
sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Honestly, while I don’t mean to suggest that there isn’t a problem with misogyny in Pakistan, most western places aren’t fantastic on this either unfortunately. I’m sure its more rare here because the public opinion of sexual assault is obviously negative but you should hear the way men speak here too. They just do it more privately, amongst people they already know think like them or online. Every woman I am close with has been sexually assaulted at least once and I know of more than a few who have been raped. It’s fucking awful. I’ve had to cut many men, who I thought were kind people, out of my life because of the things I learned about them from women.
I don’t say this as a way to suggest that its in our nature to be this awful to each other. I’m hoping to suggest that, while Pakistan has a lot of growing to do in regards to women’s rights, it is not as far behind as you might be led to believe. What you are witnessing right now could be the start of the women’s liberatory movment that permenantly changes your country. Perhaps you should consider joining that struggle. The world can sometimes change for faster than we expect once we choose to be a part of it.
SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I understand why you would feel that way. But I have lived in Qatar and Pakistan. My girlfriend travels for her tournaments. Qatar is a very immigrant reliant could try and all my friends are from different countries.
My girlfriend can wear a skirt in Canada and noone blinks an eye. She can leave my house in an uber at night in qatar and I know she’s safe. There is a VERY clear and massive difference across cultures. The feeling of safety is different everywhere, the public conscience is different.
Also Pakistan is massive and has many cultures within. The northern part of Pakistan might be amongst the worst places in the world for women. It’s the afghan bordering area and the Taliban is big there. If I told you stories from there you wouldn’t believe me.
The thing is that the stories across the world are very similar, but the culture people can’t understand without actually living there. Qatar is sooooo much safer despite people assuming or lumping it as similar to Pakistan or even Saudi Arabia. From all accounts the worst places for women are third world Muslim countries. Not that women are safe beyond that, just much freer and comparatively safer.