There has been a startling (or maybe not) news on the Dawn newspaper a couple of days back. (The article)
There has been word that a certain Economics professor, at the International Islamic University Islamabad, has been harassing female student by offering them to perform sexual favours if they wanted him to give them good grades. And if they did not comply, he would fail them until they could make a ‘better’ decision. And of course, many girls all too often complied.
Many suggest this to be a form of rape, as it was not exactly with the consent from said students; others say that this cannot be considered as rape as the girls were given an option and not exactly forced. But that can be decided in the courts.
The real issue is, why did not the girls speak up?
Obviously there is some snag in our social structure and mindset (well, a lot of them) that made them think, and act, in a way they need not have. Being an Islamic country, and being taken over by the army (again and again), has left us so distraught and vulnerable to any sort of perversion and corruption. All the dictators, that ever came to power, made it a point to appoint the most lowly and corrupt of the politicians, and the like, for the most important jobs in the government i.e. ministers, governors. And slowly these people, who in normal circumstances would be living off crumbs, were making the country’s most important decisions in a way that would benefit them the most to take their bank-balances to a higher level.
The tentacles of corruption are so intricately spread across the country, that it has become quite hard to determine if you will not be cheated, in one way or the other, at every step of the way. Such is the state, that no one individual can even trust another without judging the other person, critically, beforehand.
Now to the reason why this country being Islamic is an issue. Time and again, there have been always been strong protesting parties to this Deen of ours. And rightly so. If we completely ignore the fact of conspiracy theories, rumours, blames, and the like, it will be much more easier to ascertain if Islam is really a threat to America, if not the whole world. Even within our own people, especially the ones who have been through horrible times and expected Allah to miraculously come to their beck and call, there are many that would love to defame this, once, prosperous code of life. Blaming God for their problems, ignorant of Allah’s promise not to directly interfere with anyone’s freedom of will, they set out on a mission to write books and spread word of the horrendous misfortune.
Due to all these incidences and circumstance, lower class have let go of all hope for betterment and adjusted to this horrible, and twisted, way of life. The upper-class could easily ignore all the suffering and non-sense going around, and maybe go to Paris because Pakistan was oh-so droll. The lower- middle and middle classes has faced a major economic and spiritual set-back, and probably have suffered the most, since they consciously felt the change happening and their life-style and personal growth going backwards.
These are the people who are sending their daughters to universities such as the International Islamic University Islamabad.
The girls, obviously feeling the hopelessness in our society, did not find it any use to complain or even tell their parents, fearing a public scandal, or worse, a public trial. What prospects does she have of a respectable and good marriage? The guy to marry will come from the same class in society, and will have the same hang-ups, as to what people will think.
Our society has completely washed their hands from taking public action towards any kind of mistreatment, and understandably so. What’s the point of letting your integrity and grace go off that easy in a society that has no law enforcement system (that works) whatsoever, instead, would defame the complaining individual’s family and him alike. What hope and encouragement is there for people who are not billionaires and the most morally corrupt souls out there? Mind you, these people are good. But society needs freedom, of every sort, to grow into a human he’s supposed to become, which corrupt people and systems block out so as to continue living the way they are, without disturbance.
(Will discuss why freedom is important in later posts).
Thank you for reading!
Her Sporadic Evolution 