It is telling how Pakistan treats its most vulnerable when what is being labelled “the largest child porn ring” in our country’s history is tripped upon by accident and, with the truth suddenly out there, a cacophony of the who’s who stumble over themselves to dodge important questions, downplay the mammoth scope of the abuse and encroach enthusiastically upon any attempts by the public to angrily protest the grisly reports of over 280 children being molested in ways unthinkable. Rana Sanaullah, Punjab’s law minister, who was incidentally relieved of this position after the murder of 11 PAT supporters in Model Town last year only to have it silver spooned to him again in May this year, has called these accusations “baseless”, citing only the cuddly ‘truth’ of land disputes, using such false claims to muddy the waters. The regional police officer of the area — in which Hussain Khanwala village is the scene of the crime — seems to think the many hundreds of children found engaged in brutal sex acts on video were far fewer in number no matter what the images show. With the police inquiry and the law minister on pretty much the same stomping grounds, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has now been formed to investigate the allegations. Needless to say, it will likely collect dust and inconvenienced politicians lining up to rail against how something so vile could never happen in their constituency. Speaking of vile, local PML-N MPA Malik Saeed stands accused of hushing up the crime and protecting its perpetrators; he might as well have been on video, such is the scale of the abuse of power.
Some ‘Muslims’ we are eh? Some demonstration of the devout we have on display right? For a country that bans everything with even the hint of a colourful constitution — alcohol, porn sites, social media/video sharing platforms, etc — the fearlessness and chutzpah with which children as young as six were raped and made to molest one another, the audacity with which local government and police officials bend over backwards (in a non-sexual manner of course) speaks of only one thing: hypocrisy and a depraved streak that runs like an oil spill across the character of our national collective. The initial furor over the complacency with which we continue this charlatan parade can be summed up in two words: it happens. Yes, in Pakistan, it happens. The only reason Kasur has grabbed headlines and has made us hang our heads in ‘sham’ is the scale of the crime, not the crime itself. Children have been abused systemically in Pakistan, in our homes, our streets and our factories. Their psychology has been bruised, discoloured and fatigued by our penetration right into the core of their childhood, and our success at wrenching out the bloodied carcass of their innocence is a horrible defeat indeed. We stand defeated as a nation; let us be mindful of that this August 14.
The madrassa (seminary) nucleus remains notorious for being a hotbed of child sexual abuse. We were suitably shocked in January this year when a five-year-old boy was found hanging in a mosque in Lahore after being brutally accosted but we forgot about that ‘minor’ incident soon enough. Reports have indicated that 90 percent of Pakistan’s homeless children have been raped, a favoured pastime for many a truck driver. These children are often so anaesthetised to their condition that for children as young as seven, ‘turning tricks’ is as second nature for them as jumping through skip-rope.
What Kasur has done is combine our worst fears with our subtle complicity. Hypocrites hate being caught out; they hate damning evidence that points fingers at their two-faced nature. That is our worst fear and it has been caught on camera and sold for as little as Rs 50. And there are many videos, images of a bestial reality that no amount of denial will ever help reclaim our surface civility. And our complicity has been shaken an inch or two by the numbers; we knew children here and there, the poor and impoverished were being abused but now the voiceless have been given a voice, not by our volition but by the fact that so many of them were lined up in a theatre of abomination. You just could not ignore that kind of presence.
Rana Sanaullah and his like would like us to continue living in that whimsical wonderland where the carpets and rugs are spread over a thick layer of collected truths. He would like us to lapse back into that dazed arrogance of repudiation where deceit and negligence lie. For men of his ilk, abused children are nothing more than a cumbersome annoyance, best forgotten, best silenced.
It is August 14 today and it has been close to seven decades since we detached from a monolith identity. What is our identity today when we have no childhood and no innocence as a bedrock to help us formulate a consensus on what makes us unique? Maybe that is it exactly: we have no children left.
The writer is Op-ed editor Daily Times. She may be contacted at [email protected]