Renowned religious scholar, Maulana Tariq Jameel once again came under intense scrutiny on social media after his remarks over the gang-rape of a woman on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway was reported 9th September.
Maulana Tariq Jameel has condemned the heinous motorway rape incident in a video message. The cleric while talking about the issue also threw light on causes of moral degradation and indecency in Pakistan with co-education being one of the factors.
Motorway gang rape incident
The horrific gang rape of a woman in front of her children on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway took places on 9th September had shocked the entire nation and triggered nationwide outrage as questions are being raised over the duplicitous nature of a society where sheer savagery lies lurks behind the veil of piousness and morality and nowhere seems to be safe anymore.
The appalling incident has set off a debate on mainstream and social media on behavioral tendencies and the alarming rise in the cases of sexual violence in the country as well as the inability of the law enforcement mechanism to provide security to people as even a drive on a motorway can prove to be perilous.
The heinous crime of rape also demanded people to call for delivering immediate death penalty or public hanging as well as castration punishment to the sex offenders.
Maulana Tariq Jamil’s statement
Maulana Tariq Jamil had a similar stance but the reason he gave for such problems was deemed illogical.
Since the first process of eradication of crime is getting to the root cause, so identification of the exact cause is a necessary pre-requisite. Otherwise, lawmakers can come up with faulty solutions that can further exacerbate the issue.
The religious scholar stated that the downfall of this nation was not due to the economic instability or lack of resources as Pakistan is nuclearized. He said that it was due to the obscenity, immorality, and religious defiance.
He then requested the Government of Pakistan to change the law for God’s sake which was established 150 years ago by the Englishmen.
Jameel continued requesting the government to fix the parliament as their only job is to work in legislation but they are busy fighting each other. He asked the government to deliver the offenders with the worst punishment available in the law.
He also talked about rising cases of child abuse and rape before saying that co-education could be a possible factor in promoting such crimes. He said that if you add fuel to the fire then there will be more fire. This caused distaste among the public and they targeted Maulana with extreme anger.
He also urged the parents to pay special attention to the upbringing of their children. “It is such a discreditable incident that my tongue is shivering while speaking. The more condemnation of this act, the less it is,” he added.
Maulana Jameel vehemently condemned the incident and called on the government to award the strictest of punishments to those found guilty of the gang-rape.
He also pointed out some factors which cause such crimes the moral and ethical values of the society had already suffered.
Citing a fact, he added that teachers were failing to act upon their responsibility of teaching young students moralities and ethics. He asserted that the role of mentors in the moral upbringing of the children had significantly reduced in the education system.
The Controversy
It was a condemnation video so the public was expecting Tariq Jamil to chide men over the motorway incident which shook the whole nation.
Instead, Maulana said that girls and boys studying together instigate indecency, many people on social media questioned Maulana on the child rape happening in Madrassah (the religious institutes) where there is no education and perpetrators are clerics.
Truly, it is beyond anyone to understand the pain that the victim had to go through during such a brutal act of barbarism. Maulana Tariq Jameel blames co-education as a possible factor of such crimes, not as the root cause of rape culture. The statement of Jameel was misinterpreted.
Two sides to the argument
His comments on co-education, rising indecency, and cases of abuse against women left several social media users fuming. Pakistani Twitter split into two groups – one that defended Jameel and the other that slammed him.
According to the critics, all Tariq Jamil had to do was condemn the behavior of vile men instead of prolonging the lecture.
A female user said, “Maulana Tariq Jameel has given innumerable speeches regarding women’s rights, but no why we would bring that into notice, just bcs he’s anti-feminist”?
Maulana Tariq Jameel has given innumerable speeches regarding women's rights, but no why we would bring that into notice, just bcs he's anti feminist?
— Marwa ???????? (@MarwaNotMawra) September 18, 2020
They condemned Maulana for mentioning co-education as the reason for rape while recent events in Pakistan prove otherwise. People wanted an explanation of how co-education was related to the child rapes in madrassas, or a father raping her own daughter, or even animal rapes.
If Co-education is responsible for motorway incident so here the question arises who are responsible for the rapes of children in Madarssas?
Shame on Tariq Jameel.????
Tariq Jameel is a wrong number.@BBhuttoZardari @BakhtawarBZ https://t.co/p7wvJHXH8I— BTS Army???? (@HurairSyed) September 18, 2020
“Yes, I second Maulana Tariq Jameel words. I have seen with my own eyes co-Education boys n girls in dancing cars. Dating, flirting, abortions. We all know this filth is happening in coeducation. Cmon, don’t deny the teachings of Islam. There should be a distance between unacquainted ‘na mehrams”, said a social media user.
https://twitter.com/KhanpkManahil/status/1306966082490716163
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Some social media users tried to find the connection between the diplomatic statements of Maulana and government officials. Apparently, to them, there was a little different. They began doubting that he’s linked with the state as any unbiased person would have condemned the government first for weak protocols at the motorway at night time.
Further proof Maulana Tariq Jameel is on govt’s payroll. https://t.co/go1MzVQBys
— 89° (@thesnorky) September 18, 2020
Maulana Tariq Jameel says motorway incident is extreme of our moral degradation. Appeals to govt to make an example of rapists & change laws that make it easy for such criminals to go unchallenged.
Explains how our society can come out of this mess.
Full: https://t.co/SizhTwlYeK pic.twitter.com/26gV3gP9ef— سہیل | Sohail (@SohailAnwer) September 18, 2020
