Rising rape/murder cases and poor judicial system
By Mohammad Ilyas Khwaja (Goldur, Chitral)
Rape and murder cases have been on the rise in Pakistani society. In the last government of Nawaz Sharif, it was proudly proclaimed that honour killings had been forbidden and anyone found involved in such a killing would be dealt with as a general killer.
Pakistan has a fanatic type of society because of lack of education and lack of moral values. Most educated people in Pakistan are not actually educated but degree holders of education that is taken by one way or another. When one becomes sure that he will not be killed or arrested, he comes out to the street and tries examining on all the evil that he possess in his mind. A wave of rapes mostly of minors and killing them has been on the way.
The judicial system of Pakistan is poor and writ of the state is so weak that it takes years for a witnessed and proved offence to be punished. Suspects and professional offenders are used to tackle with such crimes who hire outspoken lawyers and the system further gets prolonged. The government system instead of making the penalty strict further escalates the situation in the name of rights of genders and liberty. In western countries if there is liberty to genders then their rights are also defined according to their secular theory but this is a Muslim country and a girl roaming alone or with other boys falls prey to the offenders.
When a crime occurs that is publicized and millions weep on and cry for justice. Ultimately, the process of justice is begun with utmost smartness that continues for such a long period that for months people remember the crime and slowly that gets out of mind. If the judicial system was run smoothly the offender is punished years after that and people ask each other which case was that and why one is punished. This fainting justice is making the rate of crimes higher and higher.
When a woman or a minor is raped or killed and the criminals confess then bring them out into a ground and give such a severe punishment forthwith that the spectators would feel the touch of horror throughout their life.
Chitral was a free state first up to the advent of British in 1895 and then its annexation as a district in 1969. It was a poor state but its judicial system was strong and well defined that had made the state run strongly throughout the history in spite of all its meagre resources and poverty.
An offender entering one’s house could be killed by the housekeeper. Similarly, a rapist or adulterer when killed by the relatives on spot, the relatives would be spared and in any case the people would report to the council of state and those would visit the spot and see the proof and decide it right there.
A story is narrated that once an old man from a village reported to the ruler that he had apricot trees in his lawn and some young men intruded in daybreak and openly ate the fruit climbing on the trees and when I stopped and shouted at them, they made a joke of me. I am alone with my old wife and thus we are helpless against multiple strong men. When the ruler (Mehtar) asked if he had a gun in his house, the answered in the negative.
The ruler ordered that a gun be issued to the man from the state armoury and told him that he cannot afford having armed guards for his apricots. So the old man should himself once warn the intruders and then shoot them. The next day the old man found the men climbed on his apricots and enjoying them gossiping. He made a warning to them to climb down but they ridiculed and laughed. The old man then shot the one on the highest after which the others vanished. In that system no written applications or appeals would occur neither any witness bothered for months or years.
Moreover, the conditions laid to possess an arm license for a noble citizen are very hard in Pakistan while on the contrary the offenders possess heavy arms so that even least police parties face them in open.
Punishments of almost all crimes are well defined in Islam just as the Roman code ‘ Eye for an Eye and Tooth for a Tooth’ and there is no need to even compile complex and thick books of that. A man was brought before Caliph Abu Bakr Siddiq Rz with the offence of a crime.
Abu Bakr Rz asked about the nature of the crime. The officials said he was caught in a serious theft case. Abu Bakr Rz said then what is an issue there that you have brought before me, just cut off his hand.
They said that his hand had already been cut in previous theft case. Then then Caliph said, okay, then cut off his head. Unless our judicial system and government law enforcement system is not altered, the sequence of such crimes will prevail.