OKARA: A resident of Okara was charged for sexually abusing and filming schoolchildren and will be presented before a court today (Saturday). The suspect, Yousuf, used to sexually abuse and film schoolchildren and then blackmail them, police said earlier this week. A lineman working for the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Yousuf confessed to abusing students enrolled in a school he had established in Mehrok Kalan, which was run by his sister. He was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act, including sexual abuse clauses, said Dipalpur ASP Nosherwan Ali Chandeo. According to the latest revelation from the ongoing probe against the suspect, one of the victims alleged that Yousuf continued to blackmail him for eight years, even after the victim left Okara and moved to Lahore. The videos of the heinous acts were also seized from the accused and sent for forensics, police said. In 2015, a paedophile ring was exposed, circulating pornographic videos in Kasur, which led to the country tightening its legislation to protect children and criminalising sexual assault, child pornography and trafficking for the first time. A 20-member committee was also formed by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif on safeguarding children last month, after a public outcry broke out when the violated body of a seven-year-old child was found in a garbage dump in Kasur. The Terms of Reference of the committee include “to deliberate and recommend replication of AMBER Alert system in Punjab” and “propose SOP to immediately know, locate and recover missing children and to make our society children-friendly”. The committee will also “intelligently use ICT to protect children in streets, parks, schools and in other public places”, “review existing laws and criminal investigation procedures apropos child abduction and child abuse” and “propose revisions in school curriculum to educate children in dealing with strangers and self-protection”. Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2018.