The successful conclusion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Wednesday October 16, in the federal capital of host Pakistan signifies further melting of ice on the regional cooperation. Ever since humanity started organising nomadic tribes after the end of the ice age, 14,000 years ago when the Earth started warming and ice started melting – it exposed footbridges linking the continents through migration that also triggered intertribal pitch-battles where rape was used as the weapon of war.
The mega event
The recent incident of the alleged rape of a college girl in Punjab's provincial capital, Lahore, triggered violent protests with the dissemination of information on social media platforms. The new or social media might be speedier than the traditional media but it seriously lacks authenticity, reducing it to a mere rumor-mongering tool.
What rings a bell, is the coinciding timing of the protests with the significant two-day, 23rd SCO Summit that concluded with an affirmative note on October 16. The Summit was participated by heads of state including premiers and foreign ministers of ten members of regional cooperation including Russia, China, India, and Central Asian States. The event was marked by the visit of the Russian premier who participated with a significant entourage of 300 delegates while Chinese premier Li Qiang was the first such office holder of his country to visit Pakistan after an 11-year impasse.
Rape, a tactical weapon in conflict
As for the desecration of fair sex dignity for settling scores in conflict had been a tactical tool to bring shame and humiliate the enemies. Rape is defined as a psychopathic illness, an expression of rage against enemies have been pervasive throughout human history. The other forms of sexual violence include sodomy where even men were not spared such as in the war-torn Afghanistan in recent history in particular. Hence, certain bad words are rampant across societies to humiliate opponents.
Structural violence is the negative peace, the term coined by Swedish Professor Johan Galtung, the father of Peace Studies, wherein policy design or norms favor and or ignore forms of physical and psychological torture by a polity and unofficially allows its practice that generally go unaccountable.
Three United Nations (UN) reports published in 2022, highlighted sexual-violence-specific atrocities in three different circumstantial conflict zones in Ethiopia, Ukraine, and Haiti, despite a normative framework provided in international law. Caroline Kapp in [The devastating use of sexual violence as a weapon of war] writes that the Geneva Convention of 1949 and subsequent amendments do recognise sexual violence in conflict, in broader terms though. The Rome Statute classifies sexual violence in contextual circumstances as crimes and crimes against humanity. A heinous act condemned by all religious ideologues and societal norms.
Kapp categorised sexual violence in conflict into three forms: intentional war tactics, tolerated (structured violence) by (political) leaders, and individually committed acts when an opportunity arrives.
Structural violence is the negative peace, the term coined by Swedish Professor Johan Galtung, the father of Peace Studies, wherein policy design or norms favor and or ignore forms of physical and psychological torture by a polity and unofficially allows its practice that generally go unaccountable.
Anatomy of the case per journalistic tools
Unfortunately, in the feudal-mindset social structure of Pakistan, the politics of rape has been an established as a tactical tool and is frequently employed to impact socio-political situations. The recent incident of an alleged rape of a college girl deserves a dissection under the [5Ws and an H] lens, the fundamental news structure tool in objective (fact-based responsible) journalism. Of the five [Ws]: what, where, and how have been comparatively defined by the official authorities and the media houses reporting the incident. However, the remaining two investigation question marks, [who] and [when] still require an in-depth inquiry into the alleged incident. So far the nominated victim and reported circumstantial evidence could not be clearly ascertained. Whereas, the flip side of this question still awaiting an answer, as to who was the beneficiary of this abruptly fomented situation that took a dramatic turn.
On the other hand, the last element in this journalistic framework, [when], poses an interesting situation, as the timing of the incident, protest, and the international summit presents a contrasting scenario. Reportedly, the alleged incident occurred on October 10 while the violent protests started galvanising were almost a week apart on October 15, the day the Summit began following a spiteful social media trolling with challenged information.
During the past couple of years, a particular pattern that has been consistent noted the alleged involvement of PTI supporters in taking advantage of at least five different cases of rape to incite political violence, attract supporter’s sympathies, and invite anger against the government.
The politics of rape
While [who] the beneficiary, in this particular case, requires a sneak peek into the recent past. One of the prominent politically motivated rape cases was reported in November 1991 of Veena Hayat, a highly profiled close friend of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and daughter of veteran Muslim League leader Sardar Shaukat Hayat. She also happened to be the granddaughter of Sir Sikandar Hayat, the chief minister of pre-Partition Punjab. The victim of the reported gang rape, Veena Hayat accused Irfan Ullah Marwat, son-in-law of then President Ghulam Ishaq Khan of masterminding her rape.
During the past couple of years, a particular pattern that has been consistently noted was the alleged involvement of PTI supporters in taking advantage of at least five different cases of rape to incite political violence, attract supporter’s sympathies, and invite anger against the government.
Ascertaining Behind the Veil Beneficiary(s) -There could be four possible beneficiaries: at the micro level would be the rivals of Punjab Group of Colleges where the incident took place at one of its campuses in Lahore. The suspicion arises because the registration of the PGC was immediately cancelled with the breakout of protests without any legal inquiry and decision. However, it could also be an administrative blunder in attempting to calm the protesters.
At the macro level, it could be the misogynists against Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who is proving to be an iron lady in the patriarchal society of the most populated province of Pakistan. On the mega level, it could be political parties with strong misogynist, xenophobic, and patriarchal tendencies such as the leadership of PTI. The irate political force in the opposition has significantly demonstrated all conspicuous extremes that are in concurrence with the similar oxymoronic agenda of the Taliban, the biggest internal security threat faced by the country.
On the larger canvas, it could be the United States-led West that had allegedly been directly and indirectly facilitating financial and technical support to PTI, particularly through the Pakistani diaspora inhabiting the West. The possible motive could be to counter the growing influence of China in the region such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Pakistan’s arch-rival nuclear India cautiously participated in the Summit to assess the situation and to maintain a presence in the regional political arena. India is keeping its strategic pressure valves operative on Pakistan’s eastern border with it and the West with Afghanistan through India-favored Taliban Kabul. Local analysts believe that unless the United States and India become significant partners in the CPEC, the multibillion-dollar turnkey project will remain under challenge.
Whether intentional or a policy overlook, the frequent sit-ins, violent protests and invasion kind of attempts on the country’s capital by the PTI-dominated provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) – the party’s track record demonstrates an intentional anti-state trend, particularly during the past decade.
The other scowl over a veteran West camp ally, Pakistan, could be the shifting sands of the country’s foreign policy trends. During the past couple of decades, Pakistan’s tilt towards Russia and further deepening strategic and economic ties with China were noticeably aimed at reducing dependency on the West and its supported monetary organisations. A planned visit to Moscow by the then-Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in February 2022 was reported as “ill-timed” when Russia was at “the beginning of an invasion”, which had irked the US. It was the time when the US announced an initial tranche of sanctions against Russia. At that point, Russia was about to get involved in the Ukraine conflict but Imran Khan was intoxicated with slogans of reducing dependence on the West and obsessed with turning the tides of the country’s foreign policy. Interestingly earlier in 2014, Chinese President Xi Jiping had to postpone his visit to Pakistan due to anti-government protests and prolonged sit-in staged in Islamabad by two cult-oriented politicians Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Allama Dr. Tahirul Qadri.
“I have concluded that after repeated failures of rallies and protests, a despicable and dangerous plan was devised. This was done at the time when the SCO summit is taking place and heads of state are present here,” Maryam Nawaz told a press conference in Lahore.
Whether intentional or a policy overlook, the frequent sit-ins, violent protests and invasion kind of attempts on the country’s capital by the PTI-dominated provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) – the party’s track record demonstrates an intentional anti-state trend, particularly during the past decade. Hence, in the light of circumstantial evidence, the prime beneficiary in this particular case might be the party that attempted to saboteur at a significant international event in the country.