The balance of power in this country has shifted so far in the clerics’ favour that it seems they can get away with anything. A recent investigation by the Associated Press has found that sexual abuse is rampant in seminaries across Pakistan. The investigation — based on police documents, interviews with victims, their families, former and serving ministers, aid groups and state officials — finds that the problem isn’t restricted to a specific area. It is a countrywide phenomenon. According to the investigation, there have been 359 cases of sexual abuse registered against clerics in the past 10 years. However, rights’ activists interviewed for the report term this figure as just the ‘tip of the iceberg’. They say, and rightly so, that the taboo surrounding sexual crimes in Pakistan prevents people from approaching the police with their complaints. There are around 35,000 madaris in Pakistan out of which a large number operate without registration. It is usually the poorest households who send their children to a madrasa because — apart from giving students religious education — it also feeds, clothes and shelters its students. Those who abuse children can rely on the taboo surrounding sex crimes for protection. If that fails, they may threaten victims’ families. When one particular incident was reported in the media, members of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba turned up at a courthouse to support a cleric accused of molesting a student. The cleric had already confessed to the police, but refused to do so in court. It is a travesty that instead of being concerned about the gravity of the problem, the authorities are in a state of denial. Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf has dismissed the AP report as a conspiracy against Islam and Pakistan’s madaris. Instead of denying the problem, the minister needs to either prove that the AP report is indeed a conspiracy or take action. Either way, the authorities need to ensure regulation of the madaris. There is no reason why the latter must remain autonomous, unaccountable spaces outside of the state’s purview. The authorities must evolve a code of conduct for the madaris and enforce it to ensure that those abusing children are removed from the seminaries and sent to prison. * Published in Daily Times, November 23rd 2017.