THE full might of the law has been brought to bear on the perpetrators of an atrocity that shocked even this crime-weary nation. An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Saturday sentenced to death and life imprisonment the two main accused in the motorway gang-rape case that occurred one night in September last year.
The men had come upon the victim while she, along with her two small children, was stranded on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway in a car that had run out of fuel. Dragging them all out into the nearby fields, they beat and raped the mother in front of the terrified minors. An uproar ensued when the news broke, and the IG Punjab ordered an extensive manhunt for the suspects. It was thus that they were finally arrested and tried at a speed not often seen here.
Although Dawn does not support the death penalty, the swift prosecution and the fact that the victim’s privacy was respected and she remained unidentified despite the publicity, may give other survivors of sexual violence some courage. However, the case also illustrated another major reason why the crime of rape is so grossly under-reported in this country, with an estimated nine out of 10 cases not even being registered with the police. That hurdle is the tendency of a misogynistic society to blame adult female victims for ‘bringing’ the crime on themselves by their appearance, actions, etc. Consider it was the then Lahore city police chief who suggested the motorway rape victim bore some responsibility for her ordeal by being out late at night. Such crass remarks further traumatise the victim, reinforce the ‘stigma’ of rape and act as a deterrent to reporting.
After a spate of horrific rape cases, President Arif Alvi in December promulgated the Anti-Rape Ordinance 2020. It expanded the definition of rape in terms of what acts constitute this crime and who can be defined as a victim, a much-needed step. The ordinance also stipulates measures to make the offence more prosecutable and act as a deterrent to its commission. These include anti-rape crisis cells; special courts for speedy trials of such cases; the establishment of a countrywide registry of sex offenders; and chemical castration of rapists, which is controversial on several fronts.
However, to bring in a law is one thing, and to ensure proper, foolproof investigation is another. Most cases of rape do not attract the kind of publicity the motorway case did. Often, the biases and judgemental attitudes of law-enforcement personnel can lead to lackadaisical and sloppy work of the kind that imperils convictions and allows rapists to go free on appeal. Intrusive and insensitive questioning of victims in court can also discourage them to pursue the case further. These aspects too need to be addressed. Rape victims need the support of society, not censure.
SBP Act
FROM a more technocratic point of view, the new amendments the government is seeking to bring to the State Bank Act might have a lot to recommend them. But the fact that they will place the State Bank beyond any oversight by elected authorities is problematic. One argument presented on oversight is that the State Bank will still be bound to submit an annual report to parliament on its performance, but this does not constitute oversight of any meaningful sort. Granted neither parliament nor the government should try to insert itself into core central banking functions, such as curating the money supply or banking supervision, nor try to influence the process of producing independent assessments of the state of the economy that the central bank provides via its quarterly and annual reports. These are functions requiring specialised skills and must be performed outside the glare and normal give and take of politics. Nevertheless, the State Bank is ultimately a public institution, not a private one, and it cannot and must not enjoy the kind of immunity from public scrutiny of its actions that come with its role. If it is allowed to become as completely autonomous as the proposed amendments to the State Bank Act envision, it will create a perverse incentive for future governments to appoint a weak individual as governor in order to retain some control of the office. This will hamper the central bank more in pursuit of its core mission than would some built-in mechanisms for parliamentary oversight.
The government is acting in haste given the directives of the IMF, and is clearly rushing the process along in order to meet deadlines for prior actions before the Fund programme can be resumed. But haste in legislation is never a good idea. So long as the conduct of economic policy remains ad hoc and in firefighting mode, no legal framework will be sufficient to bring order to it. The proposed amendments to the State Bank Act must include a more robust mechanism for parliamentary oversight, and they must enjoy consensus within parliament to be effective. Otherwise, the exercise will be little more than a pro forma set of actions hastily implemented to meet an IMF condition and to unlock the next tranche of the Fund programme. The government must not seek to tie the hands of all its successors into a knotty legal framework they never consented to.
Yemen truce offer
AS the brutal war in Yemen drags on, a fresh push for peace is being made to end the six-year-old conflict. Saudi Arabia has offered its nemesis in Yemen, the Iran-allied Houthi movement, “a comprehensive ceasefire”, though the Houthis have initially dismissed it as “nothing new” and an initiative “for media consumption”. Moreover, the Houthis, who control the capital Sana’a, have called for a complete lifting of the air and sea blockade Riyadh has enforced. There could be several reasons for the recent offer from Saudi Arabia. Firstly, the Houthis are advancing on their way to the city of Marib, which is controlled by the internationally recognised government, and the strategic prize may fall to the rebel movement. Secondly, despite Saudi Arabia’s far superior firepower and finances, the Houthis keep giving the kingdom a difficult time through their drone campaign targeting Riyadh’s energy installations. Also, the Biden administration has withdrawn some support for the Saudi-led coalition, while the powers that be in the kingdom may have come to the conclusion that the Yemen war is unwinnable. They can keep pounding Yemen, while the Houthis can keep hitting them back, only protracting a bloody stalemate, and the long nightmare of the Yemeni people.
Whatever the reason for the peace initiative, all parties should take advantage of the opportunity and continue the dialogue process. Despite the Houthis’ apparent rigidity, the movement’s spokesman said they will continue to talk to Riyadh. Saudi Arabia being the larger power should take the lead, announce a ceasefire and allow in desperately needed humanitarian assistance. If this is done, the Houthis must respond in good faith. This grotesque war has left hundreds of thousands of people dead, and millions hungry and ill, with children being the major victims. It will take a long time to rebuild Yemen and heal the wounds of its people, particularly a generation that has known nothing but war. Therefore, all parties to this conflict must silence their guns and reach a negotiated settlement.
