Scarring innocent minds: the horrors of child abuse in Pakistan
Underage marriage, child abuse cases are growing in Pakistan.
Dunya News Report (Yaruq Malik)
ISLAMABAD: A few days back, Pakistan witnessed another case of child abuse as news surfaced that a 13-year old girl was repeatedly raped by her male teacher in Larkana. A Grade 4 student, the girl was impregnated and was four months pregnant at the time of the medical check-up.
It is reported that the girl did not share the horrific incident with anyone until she fell ill and experienced severe pain and nausea. The parents immediately sensed that there was something far more serious going on behind her terrible condition. After going through a medical examination, it was confirmed that the girl had been raped and was pregnant.
The school teacher who molested the girl was arrested by the Hatri Ghulam Shah Police and an FIR was filed under No.9/2016. The parents protested against the officials in Sindh and demanded a legislative conclusion so that hideous acts of assault against children are criminalized once and for all.
DSP Yar Muhammad Rind met the parents and assured that the girl would get ‘justice’.
Recently, the Senate passed a bill which declares child pornography, trafficking and sexual assault against minors a punishable crime. If convicted, the accused will face up to seven years in prison. Moreover, child pornography has been deemed as a crime in the state of Pakistan.
This is the first time that a bill has been passed that criminalizes child abuse in Pakistan. Previously, only rape was criminalized under the law.
“This is a very important step to realize the obligations of Pakistan under the Convention on the Rights of a Child,” said the chief of child protection (UNCRC) at UNICEF.
According to a study conducted by a non-governmental organization (NGO), the total number of boys being abused has increased by 4.3 per cent in 2015. The study also stated that, in 2015, 178 boys between the ages of 6 to 10 were abused.
According to the data compiled by Sahil, an organization working on child abuse cases, around 3,002 child abuse cases were reported in 2013. Alarmingly, in 2014, the number of victims increased to 3,508. However, the reports by the Punjab Police reveal no data on child abuse cases.
Unfortunately, the families of the abused children refrain from reporting these incidents to the police or the media in order to avoid ‘social shame’.
Iftikhar Mubarak, the spokesperson for the Child Rights Movement insists that the problem of child abuses not being reported properly is due to a deeper root cause that the society has instilled in their culture. He said that parents and teachers hold the responsibility of educating children about abuses. Moreover, he requested the government to authorize an independent department that deals with child abuse cases and the investigation that follows up.
Child marriage laws are also among the pivotal aspects of such incidents. Underage marriages have been causing uproar amongst the socially aware for decades now.
Marvi Memon of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz suggested multiple changes in the Child Marriage Act 1929. Her suggestions were ‘shot down’ by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and were declared ‘un-Islamic’. The minimum legal age of marriage in Pakistan, under law, remains 16 years.
“Girls can be eligible for marriage after the age of nine years, if they attain puberty and the same is usually 12 years for boys. Anything contrary to the life of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is unacceptable. He married Hazrat Aisha when she was six years old and her ‘rukhsati’ was held at the age of nine,” Inamullah, chief research officer for the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) stated while reading the decision of the CII on the proposed changes.
However, according to a well reputed Islamic scholar, Allama Kandhulvi, the Holy Prophet married off Fatima at the age of 21 and Ruquiyya at 23. Moreover, Hazrat Abu Bakr married off his daughter Asma at the age of 26. There is no doubt among the Islamic scholars that Hazrat Aisha was 10 years younger than her sister Asma. At the time of Hijrah, Asma was 28 years old which confirms that Hazrat Aisha was around 18 years of age at the time of migration to Madina. Therefore, it can be concluded that Hazrat Aisha was a 21 year old woman when she moved in to the Prophet’s house, not a six year old minor.
Dr Sajjad Ahmed, manager of the NGO, Pakistan National Forum on Women Health (PNFWH), insisted that underage marriages increase the risk of obstetric fistula, a dangerous injury that occurs during childbirth. He insisted that the matter requires immediate attention as nearly 5,000 cases of obstetric fistula surface every year in Pakistan.
Talking about CII’s ruling on the Child Marriage Act 1929, Dr Sajjad said that the response given by the CII is a major blow towards the underage marriage crisis in Pakistan.
“The CII’s response is a blow to all that we have been advocating for years against early marriages,” said Dr Sajjad.
Another prominent surgeon at the Koohi Goth hospital, Dr Suboohi Mehdi, believes that illiteracy and cultural backwardness has propagated the disease in isolated areas of the country.
“When a mere child becomes a mother, her bones are weak and the nutrition of the mother-to-be is not taken care of in this male-dominated society. Together, with fewer or no health facilities in their areas, the tradition of home deliveries where pregnancy-related complications cannot be diagnosed in time and traditional birth attendants unable to handle such deliveries has resulted in high maternal morbidity and even deaths.” said Dr Mehdi.
The Kasur incident marked the ‘identification’ of child abuse as a serious matter in Pakistan. Previously, it was an unknown fable as people would either not report the matter or the law enforcing agencies would bury the evidence under piles of other similar cases.
According to media reports, the abusers would force children to perform sexual acts on video and later on sell the footage or blackmail the families. A total of 130 video clips were acquired during the raid.
“My son is in the videos, he is a victim and our children were forced into this. They were humiliated. The police are treating them like criminals. I went to the police station to file a complaint, but instead of registering a report, they took my son into custody. The police station clerk told me to get lost and I was thrown out.” said Rubina Bibi, a grieving mother of the abused.
Renowned filmmaker and the director of the documentary ‘Pakistan’s hidden shame’, Muhammad Naqvi covered the child abuse cases in Peshawar. The Emmy award winning filmmaker believes that it is a well known fact in Peshawar that young boys are a tool of sexual misconduct. His documentary sheds light on the matter in great detail as he roams around the Peshawar slums reporting the accounts of young boys who sell themselves due to extreme poverty.
“To specify that the abuse of street children is limited to Peshawar and its conservative pockets would be inaccurate. In fact, local researches estimate that nine out of ten street children from all over Pakistan have suffered some form of sexual abuse, including my home city of Karachi. I witnessed parents being indifferent to their sons being abused, boys preferring to live on the streets and sell themselves rather than live at home, and the abused boys who carry on the cycle by abusing younger boys.” stated Mr. Naqvi in an interview.
“People scare me,” said Bilal, a young boy who was interviewed.
The question remains unanswered. Is a seven year prison penalty enough for a person who has raped a child? Will the society wake up against child abuse as a serious matter? Will the law enforcing agencies provide secrecy and protection for the parents who wish to report such cases?
The Senate bill is indeed a small step forward in the child abuse tragedy that has been haunting Pakistan for decades, yet, it is a step towards eradicating an illness that was in the dark for so long.
