Child victims of sexual abuse face secondary trauma in the
crisis of discovery. Their attempts to reconcile their private experiences with
the realities of the outer world are assaulted by the disbelief, blame and
rejection they experience from adults. The normal coping behavior of the child
contradicts the entrenched beliefs and expectations typically held by adults,
stigmatizing the child with charges of lying, manipulating or imagining from
parents, courts and clinicians.
It is unfortunately a common occurrence in Pakistan which tries to cover itself
under the guise of religion but it is shocking and sad that pedophilia or child
abuse is rampant in Pakistani society. The infamous Zainab case in Kasur and the
Kasur child abuse scandal are just two infamous incidents which present a very
crucial picture of the disease that is plaguing our society and government
officials and other important persons fail to address this issue and even if
they do, it is too late and the cycle continues.
Child abuse haunts Pakistani society due to many reasons. There are often
chances that the perpetrator might be a family member and the lack of
communication gap between parents and their children and their blind trust for
family members contributes to child abuse occurring in this society.
The Zainab Ansari case in Kasur and the Kasur Child Sex Abuse Scandal sent
shockwaves across Pakistan and overseas haunted Pakistan and overseas. However,
it is important to note that there are several cases which go unreported or are
not often highlighted by the media. Pedophilia in Pakistan can also be dated
back to the horrific period of Javed Iqbal, a serial killer from Lahore who
lured about a 100 young boys and killed them. He committed suicide in his prison
cell in 2001.But even before Javed Iqbal, there might have been several child
abuse cases occurring in different parts of the country. Unfortunately due to a
weaker and restrictive media set up, the lack of accurate reporting and
resources, it is hard to verify how many such cases occurred in the pre-internet
days.
Till date, there are almost 4000 reported cases in Pakistan and most of them are
from Punjab. As Islamic Republic of Pakistan, it is extremely troubling to see
the rise in child abuse especially Kasur has become somewhat a fort for these
distressing act and its high time we should consider this as our social duty ad
do something about.
It all begins with first parenting your child in a proper manner and making them
comfortable to speak up the more you create space between yourself and your
child the more likely it is that they won’t speak to you if something bad
happens to them. Secondly, coach them on what is good and what is bad and what
to do in certain situations, speak to them about these taboo topics so that they
know how this immoral world acts. Lastly, when the abusers are caught, they
should be punished so that it clearly sends a message that child abuse is not
tolerated in Pakistan.
I think it is high time now that we should start doing something about it, we
should play our part to destroy this upsetting phenomenon from its roots in the
pursuit of creating a better future for the generations to come.
Allah humeybureywaqtseybachaye, amen.