Kasur kiska

Within one month we will forget the Zainab case. Those few arrested will be let off. The policemen who killed two protestors will be quietly released. And Kasur will return to “normalcy.” A sleepy town once known for Madam Noor Jahan and for its variety of Methi, is now being called the rape capital of Pakistan.

Of course, the case will remain alive on social media. In fact, it is thanks to social media that we saw the public outcry after the death of the innocent victim. So powerful is the social media in this day and age that the image of a would-be assailant holding little Zainab’s hand and leading her on touched a very raw nerve. We have seen similar cases before. But it was this one that shook the conscience of the people who went out the streets to protest.

The Zainab incident, sadly, was not an isolated event. This newspaper has reported that over 720 incidents of such nature have been reported from Kasur in the last three years. This was also the 12^th case of sexual abuse of a child reported from within a two-kilometre radius in the past 12 months. Sahil, an NGO that fights child sexual abuse, revealed that according to its records in 2017 a total of 129 cases of child assault were reported from Kasur alone. Of them, 34 were abductions, 23 rapes, 19 sodomy, 17 attempted rapes, six abduction and rapes, and four abduction and gang-rapes. The year 2015 saw the most such incidents recorded, a total of 451 cases of child abuse were registered in the area. The infamous Kasur child abuse scandal accounted for 285 of these cases.

Sahil says that there are many families who are reluctant to report sexual assault cases because of the social taboo attached to them. They believe that such cases will bring only shame upon them. Given how the police deal with such incidents, this belief is not without foundation. Even in the Zainab case, when it was reported to the police, they started to harass the family and wasted valuable time in finding the actual rapist. But there is more to this. If we take the paedophile ring that was uncovered, we are at a loss to understand why no one has so far been punished for this unspeakable crime.

In 2015-16, media reports had said that at least 280 children were sexually abused in Kasur over the past five years. A joint investigation team formed to probe the incident later interviewed over 400 witnesses and found that evidence in 19 cases was credible. The JIT found that 47 video clips and 72 photos presented as evidence were four to five years old. In its report, it said that there was a gang that worked together to produce the material.

For a government that is so keen on capital punishment, one can only wonder why the Kasur child abuse perpetrators were gradually let off and not hanged for their sins. Even in the Zainab case, a JIT is being formed. This is a waste of time. Our illustrious past president, General Musharraf, made two illuminating statements that need to be mentioned here. On one occasion, he noted that women get raped in order to get immigration for Canada. This was in reference to the Dr Shazia case at the PPL compound in Sui, Balochistan. In another statement, Musharraf said when asked why rape was seen as such a big issue in Pakistan. He likened it to a conspiracy against his government. “After all, women get raped all over the world.” This is how most Pakistani men think.

What we see in Pakistan is that the state works effectively against the rape victim and not in their favour. From the time of lodging First Information Report (FIR) to when a case is presented in court, loopholes in the system lead to increasing number of culprits being acquitted. Incomplete or misleading information in the FIR is one of the main reasons behind the weak prosecution. Our police make this happen.

The lengthy judicial process is one of the reasons not only behind why few cases are reported, but also weakly prosecuted, leading to more and more culprits being acquitted by courts. So far in the Kasur child pornography scandal, an anti-terrorism court had acquitted four accused. We need to strengthen the system. Clean up the police and make the courts proactive. Only then will things change.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2018.

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