Another abuse scandal

While the anguish of the bereaved family and neighbourhood in Chichawatni and the fury of the public are understandable, it is becoming harder to deconstruct the issue of child abuse. From Kasur to Sahiwal the disease it seems is spreading farther and wider than ever. The latest victim, an 8-year-old girl, suffered a horrific fate at the hands of a depraved person. The girl was raped and then burnt alive (almost). She endured this life a few hours until after the incident when she was taken to a hospital in Lahore from a village in Chichawatni.

Pakistan has witnessed an upsurge in sexual abuse cases since the beginning of 2018. The brutal rape and murder of 8-year-old Zainab in Kasur earlier sent a collective chill along the spine of the nation, with #JusticeforZainab becoming the rallying cry for a conscious-driven campaign to end violence against children.

People are no longer just too shocked for words. Fired-up Chichawatni residents took out a protest following the girl’s death to demand appropriate and immediate action from the authorities. They ended up forcing closure of the entire area through a strike. However, their demand for justice remains shrill but unfulfilled and is likely to be so for some time. To the vast majority of protesters, the scales of the criminal justice system seem to grind too slowly.

Too often sexual abuse against children is associated with shame, secrecy and denial which promote a pervasive culture of acceptance. Most children do not report the crime because they are afraid of what will happen to them and that their families will be ashamed or reject them. Faulty and ineffective police investigations, obsolete laws and a weak justice system discourage parents from fighting a legal battle for justice and encourage perpetrators to commit such crimes with impunity and little or no fear of punishment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2018.

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