Earlier this week, Lahore police registered a case of attempted rape against a janitorial staff member of the city’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, prompting protests from the Young Doctors Association and the Fatima Jinnah Medical University, alleging the institute had delayed criminal action against the suspect.
Unfortunately, this incident is hardly unique in Pakistan, despite claims of piety professed by the country’s populace. Extensive research suggests rape rarely has sexual motivations, with the perpetrator often driven by hostility, “moralistic” anger, and the need to exert power and control. According to psychologists, most male rapists feel powerless, have low self-esteem, and view women as manipulative and exploitable, with such mindsets encouraged by military conquest, socioeconomics, anger, power, sadism, poor ethical standards, inefficient rule of law, and evolutionary pressures.
Highlighting the plight of women in Pakistan, a private TV channel in 2022 conducted an independent survey utilizing data collected by the Punjab Home Department and the Ministry of Human Rights, claiming a woman was raped in the country every two hours. The survey noted that the punishment for rape under Pakistani law is either the death penalty or imprisonment of 10-25 years, adding forensic testing is used to prosecute the crime. Citing data from the Ministry of Human Rights, it said complaints of rape, violence against women, and workplace harassment gradually lowered between 2018 and 2021. However, this was derided by critics, who contended victims were discouraged from reporting the crime due to the country’s abysmal rate of convictions—just 0.2%—and societal pressures. Rampant corruption in the lower judiciary is another factor, with political influence often helping rapists escape punishment.
In Pakistan, rapists are encouraged by the position of women in society, with the country’s political leadership playing its own role in victim-blaming, further discouraging reporting of the crime. In 2002, after the gang-rape of Mukhtaran Mai, then-president Pervez Musharraf claimed “getting raped” was an easy route to securing asylum abroad. More recently, then-prime minister Imran Khan said it was “common sense” for men—unless they were robots—to react to a woman wearing skimpy clothing. Such views fail to explain the findings of a 2017 report from the Madadgaar National Helpline, which stated nearly 93 percent of women in Pakistan have experienced some form of sexual violence in public places in their lifetime.