Srinagar, June 1 -- By Nighat Ara

The rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Galwanpora while she was on her way to seminary has shaken Kashmir.

A child stepped out of her home and never returned, leaving behind a family carrying a grief that words cannot ease. Her books remain where she left them, her clothes still hold traces of her presence, and a life filled with possibility was cut short by an act of unimaginable brutality.

Public outrage has followed, as it should, with people demanding justice and expressing both sorrow and anger over the tragedy.

Those reactions are necessary, but this case also forces society to confront a deeper and more uncomfortable question: why does people spend so much time teaching girls how to survi...