Daily Times

Kasur, a name that garnered international attention for recurrent incidents of the child sexual abuse, has once again hit the headlines. This time, three minor boys were sexually assaulted and killed in cold blood. This very incident has again saddened the whole milieu of our country; raising many questions over the performance of law enforcing institutions and the concerted efforts of our society as a whole. It is, undoubtedly, a matter of great shame for us that we, as a nation, have miserably failed to protect our children from these wild beasts, which prey on our loved ones with impunity.

What is more shocking is the report released by child rights organisation, Sahil, which depicts a very alarming picture of the state of the child sexual abuse in our country. According to the report released at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday, the data from January to June in 2019 revealed that 729 girls and 575 boys had become victims of sexual exploitation. The cases under major categories included 378 of abduction, 139 of rape, 153 of sodomy, 46 of gang rape, 88 of gang sodomy whereas 12 boys and four girls were murdered after sexual abuse. According to Sahil, in 2018, there were 3,307 such incidents reported to police, 39 cases were not reported and 56 cases were not registered. Around 430 cases were reported by newspapers with incomplete information. In Lahore only, there were 50 incidents reported last year while nine children had been abducted and 12 reported missing from January 2019 to June 2019. The data gave grim numbers as it included five incidents of rape, seven of sodomy, three of gang rape and five of gang sodomy.

The most horrifying disclosure made by Sahil is that the most common perpetrator of the child sex abuse was an acquaintance with the victim and the victim’s family. Out of a total of 1,304 cases, 614 cases were such where the abusers had acquaintance with victims or victim’s family. In all, 142 cases were reported in which strangers were involved in abusing children. Most victims (414) were between 11 and 15 years old, followed by five to 10 years old (171 cases), and 16 to 18 years old (117 cases). The youngest age group (one to five years old) had the least number of cases (75). In 401 cases, the age of victims was not mentioned in newspapers. Additionally, in total, 203 children have been abused in their places, 300 at an acquaintance’s place, four in a haveli, 12 in a madrassa, three at their workplace and 162 in open places, including fields, streets and forests. Punjab had the most cases of sexual abuse (652), followed by Sindh (458), Federal (90), KP (51), Balochistan (32), AJK (18) and GB (3).

This grim and grave situation suggests that paedophilia is increasing at an exponential rate in our society. It is quite disgusting and the moment of great shame for our society as a whole. This alarming surge of child sex abuse in our society reflects our children are extremely vulnerable. Paedophiles easily victimise our loved ones without any fear of penalisation. Such beasts need absolute cleansing from our society. I am afraid that if they continue to thrive, they will keep jeopardising the lives and honour of our innocent children. Therefore, all stakeholders, including parents, children and the society, as a whole, should make a common cause against these wild animals in the guise of human beings so that we may transform our society into a haven for our children.

To this end, we should, first of all, understand the gravity of the issue and then devise a strategy to cope with this burgeoning social evil. Here is the tiny effort on my part that may help construe the problem and take necessary measures accordingly.

WHO defines paedophilia as” the involvement of a child in a sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent or that violates the laws or social taboos of the society.”

There are certain myths attached to paedophilia that need to be debunked. One of the myths attached to paedophilia is the paedophiles are mostly strangers to children. It is altogether a misguided opinion. According to research conducted by certain noted NGOs, especially Sahil, which work on the child sexual abuse, 47 per cent are relatives, 43 per cent are acquaintances and merely seven per cent are strangers. Hence, it is wrong to admonish kids to only be cautious of the strangers. They should also be equally careful in their dealings with familiar ones.

The abusers can be anyone: siblings, step-parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbours, servants, cousins, uncles, aunts and religious leaders. In a nutshell, they include all those people with whom a child interacts in his/her social domain. That’s why the parents are supposed to keep an eagle eye on all those people who share proximity with their children. The parents should trust nobody in this matter. After all, it is a matter of our children’s safety and security.

Moreover, it is also a myth that only girls are victims of child sexual abuse. Boys are also equally vulnerable. Therefore, the homogenous protective measures are required for the protection of both sexes.

The most horrifying disclosure made by Sahil is that the most common perpetrator of the child sex abuse was an acquaintance with the victim and the victim’s family

Besides, it is also a wrong perception that mostly, the children from the economically disadvantaged sections of the society become easy victims of paedophiles. Sexual abuse crosses all kinds of socio-economic barriers. Comparatively, the children of the privileged class are more at risk than that of the children of the less privileged class as they are surrounded by servants, even in the absence of their parents. Numerous cases testify to the fact that the children belonging to well-to-do families were molested by their servants: drivers, chef, security guards and maids.

Now, the question arises against how we can put an end to this rampant social evil; what legal and social remedy is available to nip this social malady in the bud. To put this into effect, a multipronged strategy is required. Following is the mention of the socio-legal blueprint to rid our society of this mushrooming menace.

On the social front, we should narrow down the parent-children communication gap as much as possible for enabling our children to express their issues with confidence. We should ask them to keep us informed and updated about their day-to-day activities; who are their friends; what they do; what are their hobbies.

For this, we, the parents, should take time out of our hectic schedule for our children to make them feel that we are with them. We should also provide our children with our exclusive attention, solicitude and counselling. In this way, they would feel a sense of protection and solace and over time, the parent-children trust deficit would wither away. They would resume confiding in us with no fear of admonishment and bullying. Besides, children should also be sensitised about the birds and the bees (sex education) if not in detail, but to the extent that they may distinguish what is good touch and vice versa, to say the least. For this, both teachers at school and parents at home should play their respective roles. On the legal front, we find that a lot of legislation has been made to tackle the issue of the child sexual abuse but its enforcement is absent. The majority of child sexual abuses are registered under Zina ordinance 1979, which prohibits all kinds of illegal sexual intercourse, including rape. The Sindh Children Act, 1955, and the Punjab Children Ordinance, 1983, also cover some aspects of the child sexual abuse.

Interestingly, after the revelation of child pornography racket, 20 people were nabbed by the police, pertaining to this biggest ever criminal scam. By this time, child pornography was not criminalised. Only sodomy and rape were punishable under the law.

Consequently, several other provisions were added to our legislature to further strengthen our child protection framework.

The first amendment made to Pakistan penal code in 2016 concerning child sex abuse criminalised sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking. Sexual assault is now punishable up to seven years in prison (previously, only rape was deemed crime) and child pornography (previously, not included in law) is punishable by seven years.

As mentioned earlier, sufficient legislation has been made to arrest the shameful growth of child sex abuse. The need of the hour is to implement that already enacted laws in the letter and spirit.

Moreover, special legislation is also required as the situation demands. Like the case of Zainab, all cases of child sexual violence should be tried in anti-terrorism court so that they must be prosecuted with the same vigilance and expedition as that of the cases of terrorism. Additionally, the DNA profile of all the citizens should be included in the database of NADRA. It will help us detect the culprits easily as it did in case of Zainab.

To sum it up, all the stakeholders should leave no stone unturned to arrest the growth of paedophilia in our society since it is bringing us a bad name nationally and internationally. Above all, it is a matter of our beloved children, whose value in our life surpasses everything that we own in this world. It is, therefore, incumbent on PM Imran Khan to deal with this grave issue on a priority basis. After all, we can tolerate anything in Naya Pakistan, but the existence of this social pestilence, which has jeopardised the honour and the lives of our innocent children.

The writer is a legal practitioner-cum-columnist, based in Quetta, Balochistan