Daily Times

A couple of months ago Pakistanis were taken aback by a ‘shocking’ judgment by a special court against the ex-President and COAS Pervaiz Musharaf. The judgment itself was certainly unprecedented due to the high profile nature of the convicted party, but what really turned heads was one appalling part of the decision where the ex-chief was to be dragged to Islamabad D-Chowk and be publicly hanged for 3 days for the crimes he has committed. And with that, a potentially watershed moment for the supremacy of the constitution in Pakistan was besmirched by the gruesome and medieval manner of punishment as it became the key talking point for several weeks.

One would have hoped that perhaps the distasteful affinity for such acts of barbarism was just an anomaly, but last week we were again given a peek into the unholy and dark recesses of our collective mindset where we rear this fascination with subhuman ‘retributions’. The august Parliament of Pakistan recently approved a resolution presented by PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan demanding public hanging of child rapists, the petition comes as an aftermath of yet another child rape scandal. Although the expression of anger and outrage at the ghastly phenomenon of child abuse is understandable, the apparent consensus on public displays of barbarism is also very disconcerting and definitely points towards some serious underlying physiological problems within our society.

In all of this hullabaloo, the greatest loss was perhaps the distraction from the pressing need for building a holistic narrative and strategy against the menace of child abuse. Rather than discussing the problem itself, we resorted to the all so familiar ape-Esque hollow chest-thumping. Fascinated by short fixes and avid believers in quick and miraculous solutions, we again masterfully circumvented any debate on the real issues and underlying factors behind the crisis and sent the country on a rather irrelevant tangent of discussing the merits/demerits of public capital punishment.

Now that the country grapples with the ‘dilemma’ of whether death penalties in general and public displays of chastisement, in particular, are effective or not – a debate long settled by social scientists in opposition to capital punishment – we have to refocus on the real predicament at hand. The fact remains that our government has failed to prioritize the rampant problem despite its extremely sensitive and grave nature and have faltered at any attempts of devising and implementing a meaningful policy. Nor has it realized that the problem emanates from deep-rooted deficiencies in our educational and cultural institutes, and seems content with merely papering over the cracks and placating the aggrieved parties with emotionally charged yet wholly ineffective resolutions until the next child rape scandal emerges.

In my opinion, the problem is multifold that necessitates a very well deliberated and nuanced approach. First, the inexplicable taboo nature of everything related to sex in our culture and education is the major contributor to the quagmire we find ourselves in. The very fact that no educational curriculum inculcates any information on sexual health and awareness for any grade level is simply appalling. Making matters worse, the culturally internalized shame around the topic means that even the parents are too ‘shy’ to talk to their children about the birds and the bees on the most basic level. This leaves the majority of the kids clueless to figure things out for themselves; something that the pedophiles and sexually frustrated ogres eventually exploit.

We also have to realize that the problem is not a story of some children in far-fetched villages with whom you can only sympathize. If you think that there has never been a child molester or a molested child in or around your family, you are probably wrong. According to a report by an NGO working in Pakistan, Sahil, the child sexual abuse rate in Pakistan continues to be 7 children per day, with 1304 news cases reported from Jan to June 2019 from all across the country including the big cities. Factor in how many cases probably go unreported since most of the children will never tell divulge due to the internalized and societal shame about the topic as well as lack of an adequate emotional support structure, and the picture appears truly bleak.

While it is easy to pin all responsibility on the authorities, it is also imperative to realize that the parents and guardians themselves hold the key in placating the crisis. The police, judges, and other authorities only come into play after the heinous crime has already been committed. But it is the parents who need to be proactive and avert it in the first place, especially considering the fact that 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way and 68% are abused by a family member. Emphasis has to be given to overcoming the needless embarrassment and aversion towards the topic, and at least the knowledge on the basic vocabulary and concepts like good/bad touch, safe people, and danger areas, etc. have to be disseminated by the parents. Undue trust towards relatives, friends, and other people who are frequently near the children has to be reassessed as well while ensuring that the kids are fully aware and reminded time and again on how to react and who to confide in if and when something untoward happens.

Unfortunately, since most of the parents have no experience of having ‘the talk’ themselves, comprehensive awareness and educational programs for the adults are very much need of the hour. We have to break the taboo using all forms of media and communication and prove that open and constructive debate and exchange of information is possible, and in fact indispensable while respecting the cultural norms. The lopsided narrative of stigmatizing and blaming the victim in cases of sexual crimes only emboldens the perpetrators while disenfranchising the victims further, which is something we need to collectively call out as a society.

In addition, a decisive push towards redevising our curriculums in the educational institutes to include topics on sexual health and awareness should be our government’s topmost priority. Comprehensive retraining of the academia on these topics is also of paramount importance so that relevant information is disseminated effectively to the children which empowers them to protect themselves.

I realize that it might be too much to ask in a hyper-conservative and taboo infested society like ours, but it’s about time we decide on what is more immoral – to start the conversation on these sensitive topics in a bid to protect our kids or stay smothered by our ‘shame’ and leave the future of this country at the mercy of the vile sexual predators at large.

The writer is a student of Management at the Technical University of Munich, Germany