Eliminating women trafficking our collective responsibility

THE recent incident in Chitral in which a mob got hold of a local man, beat him up, blackened his face and then paraded him in the bazaar on charge of women trafficking indicates that the inhuman activity is still deep rooted in the valley with local collaborators working against the norms and traditions of society.
Equally perturbing is the locals' reaction who took the law into their own hands and tried to vent their anger at the culprit - a la Taliban style.
We believe that there are no quick fixes to the menace which has become an eyesore for the people of the valley wherever they live besides bringing a bad name for Chitral as a whole.
Apart from socio-economic factors, lack of awareness has been the main reason why our people so quickly fall prey to the unscrupulous elements coming from many parts of the country especially Punjab. Historically, people of Chitral have lived an almost secluded life well protected from outside interferences due mainly to the geographical limitations and topographical characteristics of the valley. However, with the abrupt opening up of the valley due to revolution in communication facilities, people of Chitral now find themselves unprepared to cope with the challenges of the outside world. With the new era of communication opening-up, gangs of criminals operating in other parts of the country have also started moving to the countryside to achieve their designs. The situation would definitely become more challenging in the coming days with the construction of the Lowari tunnel completes.
What should be our collective strategy to eliminate the ills like women trafficking from our society and protect our unique culture, language and traditions. Should blackening the face of a culprit like Mahmoor would be enough to uproot the gangs involved in maligning our good name. Certainly not. There may be tens, if not hundreds, of Mahmoors who are out to tarnish the image of Chitral for the sake of a few thousands rupees. We should not even put the onus wholly on the government to safeguard our values.
There should be short- as well as long-term measures including proper legislation to check the practice of giving daughters in marriage to outside strangers without proper identity checks.
However, the need to create awareness among the public should be given top most priority, so that they can differentiate between what is good and what is bad for them as a nation. In this regard, special responsibility rests on the shoulders of the educated class, religious leaders and the media to play their due role in safeguarding the interests of Chitral in the fast-changing world.--Zar Alam Khan