Daily Times

Our children are always at risk when they are using the Internet without the supervision of their parents. However parents assume that the ICT is always useful. They will proudly tell their friends and relatives how their children are apt at using the Internet. The incidents such as Zainab Raza and the rape of six other girls by Imran Ali is perhaps the most recent incident that depicts how the predators are using the ICT for the abuse of children. Imran Ali was performing the sexual activities on the demand of the audience of dark web. How an illiterate person came to know about the dark web and how he was understanding the instructions given to him in foreign languages from the users of the dark web is a thing to investigate. It is obvious that he was certainly not the last person who would use the ICT for child sexual abuse. The current laws and regulations in Pakistan are deeply ineffective in restraining the trend of the use of ICT for child sexual abuse using the ICT. Ironically the matter of the use of ICT for child sexual abuse is also not a top agenda for our foreign funded agencies that mostly rely on the foreign agencies for feeding them all sort of news. Although Pakistan is the signatory member of the UNCRC however the charter has never been implemented in its true letter and spirit in Pakistan. Imran Khan before coming to the office was boastful of the fact that our population largely consists of the youths. A large part of these youths live in rural areas that are the potential victims of child abuse for Internet users as evident in the case of Zainab. The children living in urban areas are less susceptible to sexual crime and are more likely to get help right on time.

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 effectively instils a fear in the mind of the abused children from reporting the crime. The law enforcement agencies such as FIA and National Response Center for Cyber Crimes do not have the resources, training, or skills necessary to investigate effectively the online sexual exploitation of children

World Bank reports that 13.8% of the total Pakistani population are internet users and 73% of the whole population are mobile phone users. Pakistan is a country where 41% of the population are children under the age of 18 and 15% of the total population is under the age of 10. Even with these facts, Pakistan is least prepared to tackle the issue of child sexual abuse through information and communication technology (ICT). According to UNICEF, Pakistan does not have legislation specific to child pornography; even the term “child pornography” is vaguely defined. Only Maldives besides Pakistan does not define this term clearly in its laws. Pakistan does not have specific and comprehensive laws related to computer facilitated crimes against children. Moreover there is no obligation of ISP reporting. However ISPs are obligated to data retention; this I believe is less for the benefit of prosecuting child abusers and more for other political gains. The mobile operators can also sell as many as 8 SIMs to an individual; although the users are required to register their thumb impression to the mobile operator however it is not clear how can the mobile operators link each individual with the SIMs that he is actually using (he might be using the SIM obtained on someone else’s name.) Thus the actual abuser is sometimes difficult to trace if he is using the mobile phone for child sexual abuse. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 is probably the only law that can be called a step towards establishing a legal framework for protection of children in Pakistan. However offences set forth in this Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 are drafted so broadly that they may actually be counterproductive. Moreover the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 also enables prosecuting children as young as 10 years old. Some of the laws set in this Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 may even term a victim as an offender as well. Laws set forth in this Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 effectively instills a fear in the mind of the abused children from reporting the crime. The law enforcement agencies such as FIA and National Response Center for Cyber Crimes do not have the resources, training, or skills necessary to investigate effectively the online sexual exploitation of children. They also don’t have the right skills and training to pro-actively pre-empt a child sexual abuse crime. Moreover there are no dedicated courts to hear the child sexual abuse cases. The session courts are normally asked to hear such cases. Such courts hear the child sexual abuse cases in much the same way as other cases, thus bringing undue media attention to them. Pakistan also does not have access to Interpol’s ICSE database.

Pakistan is a country where crimes such as Corruption; organized crime and terrorism; immigration, trafficking in human beings and smuggling; money laundering; financial, high-tech and white-collar crime; and intellectual property rights are the top priority for the investigation agencies. However such crimes are the products of unhealthy minds. The sexual abuse of children leaves a deep and everlasting effect on the minds of the children. Such children would either resort to self-destruction or they would act against the society and would seek revenge from thus giving rise to all the crimes mentioned above. Therefore it is necessary that our legislators give some thought to child sexual abuses using the information and communication technologies so as to give this society healthy minds that can create a healthy environment for others.

The author is a PhD in Computer Science. He works as an Assistant Professor