Rape incident – the way we protest is not a solution to the issue
We have to think more about the roots and causes of rape cases besides shouting for punishment of the rapist
Sarbaz Roohulla Rezvi
A recent rape case has shocked the valley revealing the hidden layers of our society, covered and masked mostly by ongoing political crisis of Kashmir.
“How in a traditional Muslim community like Kashmir, such events can take place?” is the main question. Beyond the voices raised in favor of punishment of the rapist, I am afraid that the main roots and causes for such crimes are marginalized.
Reactionary attitudes of us enriched with emotional sentiments, cannot be an only solution, but also create new dimensions to the event sometimes and this is what took place when the name of the victim was released, unknown pictures and videos were circulated and sectarian language was used to narrate the event.
Reality is that Kashmir suffers from so many social diseases while all the concerns are around political issues. This political environment has affected us in such a level that all the reactions to such shocking events are also highly political by form!
“Protest” is the only thing that comes to our minds in such conditions. While not being against protest, the point is that, this method of denouncing is not always the best way. May be it is because people are afraid that the system does not follow its duties upon such a crime unless we use our pressure upon them.
Referring back to the main question, we have to think more about the roots and causes of rape cases besides shouting for punishment of the rapist. Here are a bunch of questions:
What is the role of general educational system of us in Kashmir to prevent rape cases? What is the role of sexual awareness and education to our minors in order to prevent them being in danger? What is the role of accessible pornography after IT developments, in rape cases? What is the role of religious education in preventing the rape cases? And so on.
These are all those questions that cannot be addressed during a protest and if not asked now amid the crisis, no one will pay any attention to it later.
I really hope there would be some intellectuals in Kashmir who think a little bit more deeply when such events are taking place and take a step forward for analyzing and solving the issue. But what can be done when even our scholars are reacting just based on their emotions?
No need to declare that I am also supporting the severe punishment for the rapist but this is just a small part of the solution. We need much more if we want to solve our social diseases in Kashmir.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
KV Network
