Child rape cases are rampant across the country, yet numerous news of child abuse still manages to shock readers to their core due to the steep violence and brutality of the reported incident.
Violence against minors has reached an ordinary level, and to this day, there is a lack of consensus on who is categorized as a child in Pakistan, despite its being an Islamic state and signatory to several global charters on the rights of children.
Multiple Child abuse incidents have shaken the country over the years. Despite FIRs, media reports, arrests and mass outrage child rape cases continued to erupt every day throughout the country. As reports of minor rapes and murder emerged throughout the year, the nation deems it a result of the incompetence of the police and the lack of resolve of the government and the failure of the state institutions.
Latest case of child abuse
The latest kidnapping rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Khairpur has brought back memories of Zainab Ansari who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Kasur back in 2018.
The shocking incident emerged as five suspects have been arrested in the case of a seven-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Khairpur on Tuesday.
The minor identified as Momina Larik was allegedly abducted, raped, and then killed in Khairpur. Police said a case has been registered against three unidentified persons on the complaint of the child’s father.
Five suspects have been arrested in the rape and murder case of the seven-year-old, who was abducted two days ago. Her body was found on Monday from a banana orchard in Hadal Shah village of Khairpur.
The local police recovered the body and shifted it to the Pir Jo Goth Taluka headquarters (THQ) Hospital, where a lady doctor confirmed that the minor had been raped before she was strangled.
According to the initial post-mortem report, the girl was strangled after being raped. The incident created panic and fear among the locals, who protested against the gruesome incident of child abuse and demanded that the culprits be arrested.
The news is also being circulated on social media and people have asked for justice for the victim’s family. They compared the unfortunate incident with the case of Zainab who was also raped and murdered in the same month in 2017.
Rate of child sexual incidents
The number of child rape cases reported in Pakistan every day gone up in the first half of 2020, child protection NGO Sahil disclosed in its latest report. NGO Sahil said in its six-month “Cruel Number” report that More than six children on average were subjected to sexual abuse in the period across Pakistan.
According to the NGO, most of the cases were reported in Punjab — at 57%. Of the rest, 32% were reported in Sindh and 6% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). It further disclosed that over 35 cases were reported in Islamabad, 22 in Balochistan, 10 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
Out of the total reported cases, 62% were from rural areas and 38% reported from urban areas, the report said. At least 173 children were gang-raped, whereas there were 227 reports of attempted sexual assault. Moreover, 38 children were killed after they were sexually abused.
Of the total children who were subjected to sexual abuse, 53% were girls and 47% boys. Sahil also highlighted that 51 cases of underage marriage were reported. The conclusions were drawn from January-June 2020 data from 84 newspapers and covers incidents from all four provinces, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, it added.
Zainab Alert Bill, and other laws
There have been several innumerable cases of violence against women and children regularly. However, the rape of a girl, who was stripped of her honor in the Punjab Kasur, is among the different high-profile and most-publicized cases in the country that have drawn immense national and international attention.
Consequently, new debates regarding the laws against rapists have erupted. Human rights activists, conscientious lawmakers and all right-minded citizens of this state welcome the enforcement of the Zainab Alert, Recovery and Response Bill, Chemical castration of sex offenders and other laws.
Despite several laws, child abuse cases have emerged regularly. Pakistan has all sorts of laws however, it requires implementation and structural reforms to bring eradicate this menace from society.
Pakistan needs implementation and structural reforms
Despite repeated assertions by affected family members for a public hanging and new laws by the government against child abuse the intensity of punishment does not have any impact on criminal behavior.
There has been a marked rise in such incidents particularly in Punjab and Sindh but no one seems to have a solution. In my opinion, instead of moving towards new laws the implementation of existing child protection laws and the strict performance of police regarding child abuse cases are the need of the hour.
The laws on child abuse in Pakistan is also not satisfactory at all, as it leaves the victim at the mercy of the police, an agency that is responsible for looking after a variety of crimes. Besides police reforms it should be noted unless the judiciary system does not do its job properly, the problem will remain the same.
Steps must be taken to improve awareness about such issues seminars should be organized for parents. Additionally, it is also essential to train parents and children so that they can properly respond to such threats.
We owe the children of this nation a safe environment in which they can grow up and develop without having to worry about harm from predators. Our civil society and governments must step up and make child protection a topmost priority. The current government should focus on finding out ways that may help to ensure the security of every child in rural as well as urban areas of Pakistan.
