It was necessary to see Zainab's smiling face, as opposed to her battered body: Nadia Jamil

Jamil shares her two cents on child abuse, social awareness and why she chose to post Zainab's picture on social...

Nadia Jamil has been quite vocal since the brutal rape and murder of eight-year-old Zainab last week. The actor condemned the murder and shared her own experience of sexual abuse back from when she was just four.

Now, in a tell-all interview with BBC Urdu, Jamil has given her two cents on child abuse, social awareness and why she put Zainab's picture on social media.



Talking about how Zainab's murder and rape case woke Pakistan, the actor said, "It's not just Zainab. Every day in the newspaper, there are at least five to six stories about minor sexual abuse or murder. This is now new. The only difference is that now those girls have names. It's Zainab, Asma or Kainat Batool, who is still in the hospital."

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She continued, "In 2015, however, it was reported that 200, 300 children have been either raped or murdered. The lawyers I've been working with revealed that it wasn't just 200, 300 children but hundreds and thousands of them."

The justice, she said, was never served to the abused children or the murdered ones. The reason? Jamil believed it happened since the general public decided to keep mum on the matter. Hence, the issue was suppressed.



Few days back, Jamil very openly told the story of her own abuse when she was a child and how she kept quite all these years, thinking it was her shame.

But now, she has realised it's the abuser's shame, not hers. The Behadd actor said, "The honour everyone keeps talking about is no one else's but mine. If I've been hurt, then I will voice it. I have every right to talk about it. Why should I be ashamed to talk about my ordeals?"



Discussing the backlash she faced on Twitter when she shared Zainab's images , the actor said she felt it was essential to do so.

"I've never put up a picture of any child, who has been a subject to such brutality. However, I believe it was necessary for the world to see Zainab's confident and smiling face more, as opposed to her broken, battered dead body that was found in a heap of trash," she expressed sorrowfully.

You can listen to the full interview here.

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