Sinful crime

The sordid case, reported from Multan, where a cleric at a seminary has admitted to plotting to rape and then kill a three-year-old girl sent to him for Quranic lessons, brings back a host of ugly memories. There have been other cases reported in the past of sexual and physical abuse of children at seminaries. In the latest incident, the child was taken to a grave the cleric had ordered dug; he was spotted removing his clothes by a gravedigger, and then caught, tied naked to a pole and beaten as other people converged. The rescued victim is recovering in hospital and the cleric is in police custody.

The lack of monitoring and control over madrassas has led to many children sent to them being criminally assaulted or badly mistreated. We need to ask if we can afford to put other children at such risk. Indeed, many cases of abuse at seminaries may not have come to light and recent focus on child rape following the abuse of a five-year-old in Lahore is one of the reasons other cases are coming forward. This will only be a temporary phenomenon. We need lasting solutions and better protection for children and indeed, all victims of rape.

The case has also exposed a little more about our society. It has shown that piety is often nothing more than hypocrisy, with persons using their status in society to harm its most vulnerable members. People everywhere need to be made more aware of the risks. Status as a teacher, a holy man or a cleric should not bring trust and all persons who misuse their standing in this manner deserve to be punished, under the law and also socially, to deter others. The little girl in Multan was fortunate she was rescued. Others, of course, may not be quite so lucky, and the incident at the graveyard should teach us all a lesson about a society where evil comes in many different forms.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2013.

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