Digging out the mess

The story out of Kasur was not an isolated occurrence. Soon after the news broke, similar cases of child sexual abuse and blackmail surfaced in Multan, Chiniot and Jhang in which teenage boys were targeted. In the Multan incident, the teenager was kidnapped at gunpoint by a classmate and sodomised by eight men. While celebrating Independence Day recently, did we think of the Pakistani children who lost their freedom at the hands of the thugs who scarred them for life? It is 2015 and we still have a multitude of citizens without freedom in its true sense. These cases from various districts of Punjab will also not remain in isolation; cases of child sexual abuse have come to light many times with pathetic government response and action and, therefore, will continue to emerge.

Recent cases have received some government attention, but often it is of the wrong kind. Our leaders need lessons in how to speak publicly on such cases and learn to exercise sensitivity when commenting on them. Nonetheless, while there are fingers to be pointed here, let us remember that the failure in these recent cases and in the Kasur tragedy is ultimately a systemic one as perpetrators get away with their shameful acts because they have no fear of the law or of law-enforcement agencies. This is a result of legal loopholes, weak legislation in the area of child rights, and lack of implementation of the laws that are in place. Besides ensuring the establishment of robust systems that take perpetrators to task, the area of child rights requires other extensive reforms as well. Both parents and children need to be educated on precautions to take to keep children away from harm, how to recognise danger, and what to do when faced with abuse. Another area that needs to be dealt with severely is the circulation of videos of child sexual abuse both in the form of DVDs and online. Needless to say, the authorities need to be vigilant in putting a stop to this as the torture these children go through is only magnified when their ordeal is made public in this manner.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th,  2015.

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