Days of darkness : Violence against children remains rampant

Thirteen-year old Hadia Aslam, a working class girl from the city of Sheikhupura was called to serve as a maid at a house in Lahore. Drawn by the lure of higher wages and possible access to better living standards in the metropolis, the minor’s parents leaped at the opportunity. She was soon on her way to the big city.

However, the cruelty Hadia experienced at the Lahore house was nothing she or her parents could have ever imagined from the girl’s uptown employers.

“I would be routinely tortured, beaten and locked away in a dark room for many hours. I would wail in anguish, but there’d be no one to hear my cry for help.

The abuse went on for several days until a kind police officer found out about me and tipped the Child Protection Bureau. People from the bureau soon came to my aid and freed me from my employer’s clutches before it was too late,” recalled the 13-year old.

Where Hadia’s story is alarming, it is certainly not rare in a country where hundreds of children are maid victims of abuse and violence every day. According to Sahil, a local NGO working for children’s rights, over 1,489 minors have been reported to be sexually and physically abused in the first six month of 2020 alone. Out of these, over 53 per cent were girls and 47 per cent were boys.

Most shocking of these numbers however, were 134 were girls who were raped, 69 who were gang raped and 38 children who were raped and killed between January 2020 and June 2020. During the same time, over 51 child marriages and 331 cases of child abduction were also reported in the region.

Sahil’s data shows that 57 per cent of all cases of child abuse were reported in the province of Punjab, along with 32 per cent in Sindh, and six per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While over 68 cases were reported in Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Balochistan combined.

On the other hand, unofficial statistics reveal a further 20 per cent increase in violence against children during the days of coronavirus-induced lockdowns, when victims were often forced to stay with their abusers.

In many such cases, according to Child Protection Bureau Psychologist Rabiya Yousaf, children are never able to fully recover from the abuse that they have gone through. “These incidents have long term detrimental effects on a child’s personality and the baggage is often carried to later stages of life. If not counseled, the child is likely to develop various fears and anxieties which can manifest in the form of recurrent nightmares as well as more complex behavioral issues further down the line.”

Speaking to The Express Tribune Bureau Chairperson Sarah Ahmed said that her department has noticed that the Central Punjab region is the most notorious for reported incidents of violence against children.

The reason, according to the chairperson, could be that the region, compared to other districts of Punjab, has greater awareness about the bureau’s presence and helpline.

“There are cases in other districts too, but they often go unreported. Often times, it’s the child’s own relatives or family-friends who are involved in the crime, which hinders reporting and punishment. The Child Protection Bureau is currently pursuing dozens of such cases province-wide. We are trying to ensure that no such culprit is bailed out and is punished to the full effect of the law,” asserted Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2020.