Understanding the Kasur incident

284 children had been abused over a decade, the abuse recorded on mobile phone cameras and disseminated via internet

The Kasur incident came to light three months ago and it was alleged that 284 children had been abused over a decade, the abuse recorded on mobile phone cameras and then disseminated via the internet. If the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the matter is credible and not a whitewash — always a strong possibility — then a very different but no less disturbing, picture emerges. The sexual abuse of children is widespread and endemic in Pakistan. Despite the growth of a climate of disclosure in which those that have been abused find a voice and very occasionally justice, there is no indication that the incidence of abuse is on the wane, indeed quite the contrary.

The findings of the JIT confirm that abuse did occur and that it was recorded on mobile phones, but the scale of abuse appears considerably less than was originally reported. The JIT has interviewed over 400 witnesses, and concluded that 19 sodomy claims were genuine, not the 284 originally reported. The 47 video clips and 72 photos were found to be four to five years old. There was a gang that worked together to produce the material but there is no evidence that it was uploaded to the internet or used to extort money from the victims. The JIT has also found a linkage between a local land dispute, local politics and old enmities, all of which were woven into the story, and according to the report, magnified and manipulated by assorted parties, including the media and some civil society organisations. None of this detracts from the fact that at least 19 children were sodomised and the assaults were recorded on mobile phones. They will be mentally scarred for life by their experiences; and their families will endure shame and indignity. The possibility of their assailants ever appearing in a court, nevermind being convicted, is remote and their story has already faded from the headlines. Notwithstanding the JIT report, the sexual abuse of children is a national canker, the cure for which lies in a very distant future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2015.

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