Daily Times

Kasur has become subject to some reprehensible acts in Kasur of late. Cases of child sexual abuse are rising. Zainab lost her life and the tragedy indicated at the negligence of the rulers. The  girl was abducted for about five days and the police could not do anything. For a moment, one might feel that Kasur is a no-go area where these crimes are the part of life. After so many dreadful crimes, this  seems true. There are several mishaps that have occurred in the land of the great Sufi saint Baba Bulleh Shah. The case of eight-year-old Zainab is a brutal truth to acknowledge and shows  a sorry state of affairs for the entire nation, including the leaders. The incident with Zainab was the 12th one to happen near the victim’s house within a year. Crimes kept happening again and again, and the authorities  kept ignoring them.

Kasur has become the hub of child abuse.  A rough assessment clarifies the situation prevailing in the city. More than 700 cases of children’s molestation have been reported in Kasur since 2015. The figure is quite ghastly, and I am sure there are many more that went unreported owing to certain factors including the prevailing social taboos.

The recent heart-wrenching event has once again showed the bona fide face of the system we are living in. Police that should be the name of trust and security is causing more havoc on the naive nation of Pakistan. Instead of finding and nabbing the culprits, it killed two protesters and two others got critically injured.

The reality is that most of the cases of sexual abuse go unreported. In most of them, the children do not even share their experience of the incident.  In other cases,  the parents are afraid of the honour of their family. Formality and lack of candidness  with parent is causing more damage to our society, and they are the reasons events like these are happening on daily basis. The grief-stricken families that tried to pursue the case have to wait for the justice for an uncertain time period.

The hype that this case has got on media is commendable, but certainly it certainly wont last very long. Every day, our society is becoming more brutal and savages are protected

This issue got attention through social media. The trend #JusticeForZainab is still high on  Twitter and its promoters are asking rulers to take action about the horrific incident.

Zainab’s father showed how ineffective the system is when he demanded  justice either from the Chief of Army or from the  Chief Justice of the Apex Court.   The issue should have been demanded from  police or from  local political leaders. There is a lack of trust regarding police in Pakistan even though they are paid through the taxes of citizens in the country. Indeed, they do not have any consideration for the masses.

The hype that this case has got on media is commendable, but certainly this is not going to last very long.  Every day, our society is becoming more   brutal and  savages are protected and the gap between rich and the poor is mounting. With careless leaders, society cannot attain serenity and tranquility. Moreover, justice and accountability are the two most vital factors mandatory at this moment.

Let’s wait for the moment when the killers of Zainab will be brought to justice and the rate of such crimes decreases. Nonetheless, I am afraid that before justice is served, another incident might have happened and the society including media and state machinery would have forgotten this one.

The writer is a professional writer and political commentator. He can be contacted @junaidalimalik1 or junaidalimalik3@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 20^th 2018.