Daily Times

Sir: A sad incident has, once again, humiliated the Pakistani nation — a nation that came into being in the name of Islam. The case I am referring to is the rape of a minor in Lahore, one that has shocked the nation; people are now stressed about the protection of their children. Here the question arises: how did these awful crimes start in Pakistan, as this is obviously not the first case of child abuse. The bitter truth is that we are a desperate nation; rape does exist in our society, child abuse exists, prostitution exists and eve teasing exists but our parents, our teachers, our mentors and our media have never talked about this issue. Child abuse and incest are common in Pakistan. The height of desperation in our society is such that people are raping innocent children. In this ‘Islamic’ country of ours, we show the world how we are ready to give up our lives for Islam but we refuse to follow the religion properly.

Apart from child abuse, male child prostitution is also a common practice in our homeland. At bus and truck stops it is very easy to find such children ready to be exploited. It is tragic to note that some policemen are also involved in this illegal activity. According to a recent survey, more than 170,000 children live on the streets across the country and most of them are involved in illegal activities. It is harsh but true when they say that if you cannot stop rape then the country should make prostitution legal. Through your esteemed paper, I would like to ask some questions of government high ups: how would you feel if your son or daughter were sexually assaulted? Why are we so insensitive when it comes to caring for the children of others? Should we let criminals commit such acts with innocent angels? Why is sex education not a part of our curriculum?

M MOHSIN SHAHBAZ

Via e-mail