This statement is not a rebuttal to progress nor a blatant renunciation of international commitments. It is a grim reminder of who we have been and who we are. A reflection of our identity, the roots and soil that shape and anchor us, and the storms we have yet to weather. To juxtapose a country still wrestling to clear the debris of the empire, forcing its way out from deeply entrenched patriarchal norms and withering institutional structures to the export-ready ideals of Global North is not only imprudent and perilous but a quiet manifestation of surrender.
The recent passing of the Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, as has often been the case brought Pakistan at a peculiar crossroads, where the residue of colonialism skirmishes with the seductive charm of economic globalization. The latter-day legislative maneuvers in the Senate which seek to soften the punishment and abolish death penalty for heinous crimes under Section 354-A and 402-C of the Pakistan Penal Code like public stripping of women is a Faustian bargain. It serves as a civilizing mission masking structural manipulation adorned with the lexicon of so called “international commitments” and sustaining this façade is a neo-imperial invisible hand which subtly steers our legislative pen. This move although seemingly intends to adjust to European Union’s GSP+ moral entry test designed for markets might offer momentary tariff concession but relinquishes the performative sense of justice women hold onto desperately to savor a bit of Western validation, as in Pakistan justice is not delayed; it is often bartered.
Proponents argue that harsh penalties don’t deter crimes and Europe with its tiled boulevards and low crime rate is an El Dorado we should mimic, faithfully and unthinkingly. But let’s not kid ourselves, Pakistan is not Europe. We lack the centuries old institutional scaffolding, self-authored legal systems and tidy fortune amassed from imperial conquests.
Our justice system is still haunted by the ghosts of colonialism and wounds of instability. To compare ours to theirs is to compare apples and oranges. We are not living in a society where women can confidently walk into the police stations with evidence to file a complaint, be accorded dignity and see justice served swiftly. We unfortunately are functioning within a system where First Information Reports (FIR) are stalled until someone pays, medical reports are doctored, where victims are silenced to protect izzat (honor) of the family and where judges wear robes of moral arbiters and deliver sermons instead of verdicts.
Stripping a woman in public is a brutal manifestation of patriarchal control, and it is high time to honestly recognize this not merely as an assault, but as social assassination. A woman’s body wears countless roles chosen not by her, but for her. It is a vessel for carrying the weight of honor, shame and blame. It is a monument, a scapegoat, a battlefield and an emblem all at once. The deliberate act of manhandling a woman through the streets, disrobing and parading her before jeering spectators is an act of coercion which breaks the spirit, if not the skeleton. The softening of punishment emboldens and whets the appetite of the perpetrators to feed on vulnerability with impunity. When a crime is deemed fit for the gallows by the law itself, it signals an unequivocal verdict: this action is unpardonable and morally corrosive. To dilute the sentence is to indicate that justice can blink and this crime is tolerable and bargainable. Tampering with the punishments and especially softening them is not about a slight change in a legal provision, it is a communique proclaiming our moral attitude towards our women. Reforms which are fundamentally driven and guided by economic incentives, instead of justice, masquerade as progress; this is not jurisprudential progress but rot at the soul of society.
Our primary dysfunction lies not in the severity, but in the rarity of punishment. Our justice system doesn’t limp because its stick is weak, but because it refuses to walk. The underlying cracks persist at a structural level and often stem from historical slipups and legacies. The alarmingly low conviction rates, judicial paralysis, systemic weaknesses in our prosecution and police forces, cumbersome frameworks and the porous net of accountability are catalysts which allow criminals to slide through the cracks of justice unscathed. Laws, whether progressive or lenient, derive their value from proper enforcement. Without a proper redress of these systemic and structural fissures camouflages the imminent iceberg. This cosmetic legislation auctioned off as progress suffice as an expedient distraction until we gather sufficient guts to overhaul our dysfunctional justice system.
The state should have zeroed in on amending these systemic maladies by fortifying the custodians of justice, ensuring swift and just trials, and adopting victim-centered and agency-driven approaches in which women feel empowered that their dignity is sacred and inviolable. It is true that death penalty alone cannot guarantee protection for women. But in a system where justice is elusive and arrives cold, it is a stark reminder that state is watching, the crime is intolerable and that the survivor matters. All progress and reforms are a farce when the first thing they do is strip a woman.
Let us not be so enamored by the glitter of European markets that our values and identity get swallowed by the dark. Legal reforms should address the right questions. Not “What does Brussels want?” but “What do women in Pakistan need?” and we need Justice, Protection, Dignity and Belief without any conditions.
