The gang-rape of a woman in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, has sparked furious protests at the country’s “rape epidemic” and the culture of impunity that surrounds violence against women.
The 24-year-old was walking with a male colleague through Fatima Jinnah park – known locally as F-9 park, the city’s largest – at about 8pm last Thursday when they were attacked by two armed men. The man was chased away and the woman raped.
The attackers told the woman that she should not have been in the park at that time of night, and threatened to call their friends to assault her again if she spoke about the incident.
Sources from the medical team involved with the case said the woman had clear marks of torture on her legs and face. Hundreds of people protested in the park this week over the police handling of the assault and demanded the arrest of the attackers. The crime also triggered widespread anger on social media.
“Horrified to hear of rape at gunpoint in F9 park which is full of families and kids esp on weekends. Why our public spaces are not safe for all citizens? Why is there no security at Islamabad’s biggest park?” journalist Sana Jamal wrote on Twitter.
The victim is now in a secure location, but is said to be concerned about her safety after activists claimed police leaked her name, profession and contact number to reporters.
“The negligence from police is evident – [they are] not taking the case seriously and have failed to arrest the culprits, even a week after the incident,” said Farzana Bari, a women’s rights activist. “This is not the first incident in this park and police should take it seriously,” she added, referring to an occasion in 2018 when a woman was raped by a park worker. “It is their responsibility to make public places safer for women.”
Bari, also the civil society member of the police investigation committee, said: “Local media is insensitive and ratings driven; they should have not revealed the personal details of the victim.”
On Tuesday the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), an independent regulatory body, prohibited television channels from airing news or reports on the case to protect the woman’s identity.
The police said that investigations were ongoing. “We have conducted raids to arrest the prime suspect, but no progress has been made yet,” said investigation officer Mumtaz Habib.
A supreme court order after the 2018 attack to install a lighting system in the park has not been complied with, and two-thirds of the 300-hectare (750-acre) space is still unlit.
In a statement, the police warned people to avoid unlit areas of the park in the evenings.
Pakistan’s conviction rates in rape cases are less than 3%, despite the country’s authorities strengthening anti-rape laws in 2016 and 2020, introducing longer sentences, and creating special courts to try cases within four months.
Rape survivors and their families, fearing the stigma of a trial, often settle out of court and face threats and coercion by their attackers, their own families and the wider community.
“There is a rape epidemic in the country, and it is growing,” said human rights lawyer Osama Malik. “It could well be that rape cases are being reported more often these days and the trial and conviction rates are subsequently lower. While rape laws have been modernised over the past two decades and there have been some revolutionary steps such as banning virginity tests, there are still laws that use the language of morality to define sexual crimes against women. Add to that the misogynistic attitude of law enforcement, investigators, judicial officials who tend to indulge in victim blaming.”
Malik added, “The second gang-rape case in the past few years in Islamabad’s largest urban park, only a couple of minutes’ walk from my office, has shocked us all. I am sure it has traumatised women across Islamabad who visit this park and made them feel very vulnerable in public spaces.”
In another incident last week, a bus guard allegedly raped an 18-year-old in the central Vehari district at gunpoint on a moving bus. The woman was taken to hospital in a critical condition. A suspect has been arrested.
