Daily Times

While the war on terror is being fought with full might, the war on child sex abuse is nowhere on the national agenda despite recent incidents.

Thousands of minors have been raped and killed over the last many years, but no national policy has been mapped out to curb the menace so far. Only a day after Imran Ali, the killer of young Zainab, received capital punishment on four counts, another 9-year-old child was raped and killed in Gujranwala.

The formulation of the National Action Plan (NAP) did not take long following the APS massacre. All the mainstream political parties, armed forces and other stakeholders came together and resolved under NAP to stamp out terrorism. But where is the NAP to crush child sex abuse? Neither military nor civilian leadership has an answer.

However, what is being projected with fanfare are some sluggish sessions in parliament to decide public hangings in such incidents. The human rights groups and NGO, as usual, organised candle-light vigils, but since then there is a complete lull.

After Zainab’s high-profile case in Kasur, it is astonishing that no APC has been summoned.

The formulation of the NAP did not take long after the APS massacre. It is astonishing that not a single APC was called following the horrific recent incidents of child abuse to chalk out a national strategy

Embroiled in their petty political disputes and interests, the political parties are pivoted towards point-scoring on the issue of Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification. Much of the energy is being drained out to evaluate who holds mammoth public gatherings before elections to claim themselves popular in the country.

Statistics about crimes against minors including rape, murder and kidnapping are appalling. As per a report, 2017 saw more than 4000 child abuse cases in different parts of the country. A whopping number of 1,764 minor abuse cases were reported in first six months of last year.

The report marked Kasur district as the most vulnerable target for criminals. Being a hotbed of the sex crime against children, around 129 cases of child assault came to fore in Kasur alone. Meanwhile, over 720 incidents of such nature have been reported from Kasur in the last three years.

It reveals further that in context of child abuse cases from January to June 2017, Punjab is battered with 1089 cases, followed by Sindh with 490 occurrences. While 76, 58, 42 and nine cases were reported from Balochistan, FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir respectively.

The terrifying figures put forth by the NGO Sahil are an eye-opener. Sex crime against children in rural areas surged to 74 percent as compared to 10 percent in urban settings. When the data on the culprits was analysed, most of them turned out to relatives or the neighbours.

A groundbreaking anti-rape law (Criminal Amendment Bill) 2015 was passed, which led to an amending Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898 and the Qanun-i-Shahadat Order (1984).

The laws against child sexual abuse are observed strictly around the world. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international treaty that legally obligates nations to protect children’s rights. Articles 34 and 35 of the CRC require states to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.

It is proposed that all parties contesting upcoming elections should incorporate child sex abuse issues in their manifestos. Once all stakeholders put their act together, only then this evil could be exterminated.

The writer is a fellow of the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and is a recipient of China-friendly Netizen 2017 award. E-mail: yaseerkhan@hotmail.com; Twitter @yasirkhann

Published in Daily Times, February 23^rd 2018.