Kasur child abuse case just the ‘tip of the iceberg’

Activists call for better governance to curb such incidents

KARACHI: Activists condemning the Kasur child abuse case have demanded that the case be in tried in military court and that the real culprits behind it be arrested.

"Those who are the masterminds and those who have benefitted financially from [the pornography] should be arrested. There are powerful, influential people and those involved with the government behind it who should also be caught," said Rumana Khan, board member of War Against Rape (WAR) on Thursday.



A small number of demonstrators from different organisations gathered outside Karachi Press Club to protest against the child pornography incident. They held banners calling for the protection of children and shouted slogans, such as 'Kasur kay mulzamon ko phansi doh [Hang the Kasur criminals]' and 'Jinsi tashadud band karo [stop sexual violence]'.

Khan said that child sexual abuse, including that of boys, is prevalent in all provinces. Quoting WARs statistics of 2014, she said that here were 2,000 cases of child sexual abuse reported in Punjab alone, more than double of the 800 cases reported in Sindh.

Reporting cases of sodomy is considered taboo in our society, admitted the activist. Her organisation has observed that while male rape cases have increased over the years, boys are not being given the same protection provided to female abuse victims. "This incident is just the tip of the iceberg," she said, calling for better governance to curb such incidents from taking place in the future.

Another protester, Dr Aisha Mehnaz, general-secretary of the Pakistan Pediatric Association, called for the case to be tried in a military court. "The culprits should be tried in the military court. They should be given exemplary punishment and executed," she said.



Mehnaz said that another issue emerging from the incident was that children are not only being used in pornography but are also exposed to it. "This is a wide network and such videos are being sold in the international market," she claimed.

Mehnaz said that abuse among boys was all too common and that there should be strict laws against child sexual abuse. "This is a test case for the government and it should not fail in giving justice to the victims," she stated.

The Sindh Assembly deputy speaker, Shehla Raza, also turned up at the protest, along with the Pakistan Peoples Party's human rights cell. She expressed her concern that the matter came into the spotlight so long after the first incident of child abuse.

"There should be no point scoring in this incident. It should be condemned by all and no one should support it," said Raza, adding that all businesses such as those involved in making videos of children should be closed down.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.