Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) President Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has urged the government to change the Joint Investigation Team as demanded by the victims’ families of Kasur child molestation case.

The PPP leader said this in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding that the trust of the aggrieved parties in the JIT is important to dispense justice in a case like this.

Wattoo said that the complaints of intimidation and harassment meted out to the complainants by the local authorities at the behest of the powerful were both contemptible and condemnable by any measure and the top authorities of the Punjab government should take notice of them immediately.

He pointed out that fair and impartial investigations of the case of Hussain Khanwala village were critical to award detrimental punishment to the accused so that the potential perpetrators get discouraged from engaging in a heinous activity like child molestation, without an iota of availing themselves the benefit of doubt.

The Punjab PPP president recalled that he was deeply saddened after meeting the children and their parents during his recent visit to the village because the children had run away from the village and also stopped attending schools due to the unbearable social stigma.

He urged the government to ensure the submission of challan of the case at the earliest with irrefutable evidence, which is necessary to bring the criminals to justice. Justice not only be done but be seen to be done because it is pretty important in a highly publicised case like this, he observed.

Wattoo also urged the government to arrange free education for the victims in other city centres and also ensure their employment after the completion of education so that they could lead their life with honour and dignity. Without this, their total rehabilitation will be a forlorn hope, he commented.

He said that the fact that Rawalpindi and Lahore were on the top of the ten most notorious cities in child molestation in the country cast aspersions on the government of Punjab that seemed oblivious of the existence of the despicable problem with dangerous ramifications on the social fabric of the society.