In Punjab, Pakistan this past summer, Ms. Mukhtaran Bibi, an 18-year old woman, was sentenced to gang rape by the village council in southern Pakistan. Four men violently dragged her into a hut and painfully raped her while a large group of other men watched. Primarily, she was asked to appear before the informal village council to apologize for the alleged misdemeanor of her younger 12-year old brother. He was accused of having an illicit affair with an older woman from another tribe of higher status. After Ms. Bibi’s public apology to the council for her brother’s alleged affair she was sentenced to gang rape while the fellow villagers w

atched and did nothing to stop the horrific assault. Afterwards, Mukhtaran Bibi was forced to walk home naked in full public view. To make it even worse, the truth was that her brother had not even had an affair with the indicated female from the other tribe. He was simply seen walking with the woman and was interrogated afterwards by three men who saw him with her. They assumed he was having an affair. For this, his sister received the only punishment that is worse and more painful than death.

The reason that rape is so prevalent in Pakistan and in similar third-world Islamic countries is that there is barely any respect for women due to history. Women do not have the same rights or status that men do and the image of women is very different in that cultural perspective. This leaves them vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment. The solution to help reduce the rate of rape in Pakistan is to encourage education for both sexes, establish more modern legal and economic systems and establish a democratic government. These are only mere attempts to help the dire situation and are by no means solutions to this horrific problem. Until something is done to further the cause of the emancipation of women, we will never achieve the day when it is realized that, “The world of humanity has two wings—one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.” (Compilations, Baha'i World Faith, p. 288)

“4.34: Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”

Aside from proper education, more modern legal and economic systems would allow for the establishment of more rights and freedoms for women, ultimately leading to a stronger sense of overall justice. The legal system is primarily based on English common law, combined with elements of the Sharia, the Islamic legal code. Commercial law is almost entirely English, with English case law having much persuasive authority. Ultimate judicial power rests with the Supreme Court, which comprises a chief justice and 13 other judges. There is a High Court in each of the four provinces, each with a chief justice and a number of other judges (determined by law or fixed by the president). The Sharia Court has eight Muslim judges, including the chief justice; four of the judges are qualified to be High Court judges and three members of the Ulema (scholars versed in Islamic law). Other courts exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction, but generally, most things in Pakistan now deal with the Sharia court which makes all its decisions based on their interpretations of Islamic law. Not much has progressed as far as the advancement and maturing of the legal system goes. In July, 1977, General Zia ul Haq made Islam the centerpiece of his administration and it has remained that way since. Back then, “theft could be punished by ‘amputation’ from the wrist of the left hand of a right handed person and vice versa. Some other crimes, he decreed, could be punished by public whippings.” (Jones, 14). The legal system needs to be based on justice not just precedent, meaning that it cannot function in a way because it simply “has always been done that way.” A stronger economic system stems from education, which

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