Child Abuse - An Endemic.

In a nightmarish tale that has become all too disturbingly familiar, yet another cleric has been exposed for the sexual assault of a child in Pakistan. Video evidence has been divulged of Maulvi Ghulam Abbas Sehto, molesting a young boy within the walls of a Mosque in Kandiaro. This innocent youth merely attended the mosque – a place of worship and safety - to read Quran and to practice his faith.

This contributes to the ongoing endemic that is; child torture, abuse and murder in Pakistan. In 2019 alone, a total of 2,846 child abuse cases were reported. These cases included, abduction, rape and sodomy. Research conducted found that eight children were abused each day that year. Such cataclysms have become common in Pakistan and agonizingly, oftentimes at the hand of religious figures. How has this come to be? Why has so little been done to prevent it?

An abundance of such cases have been noted by Police in Madrassas or religious schools established by clerics. While Pakistan has 22,000 registered Madrassas with over two million children, many have flown under the radar and have remained unregistered. Such establishments are normally found in poor constituencies and thus, draw in children with the promise of food, shelter and an education.

Such transgressions by religious scholars have become alarmingly rife. In a similarly chilling case, an eight year old boy by the name of Yaous, sent from the remote region of Kohistan to a Madrassa in Mansehra for an education, was brutally sexually assaulted, raped and beaten by a cleric who taught in that institution. Too poor to own a phone or afford transport, this boy was trapped in an abusive environment, unable to reach his own family for assistance. He was held captive until the cleric feared he would die and took him to the hospital. Though in this case the cleric was arrested, others have not been so lucky. A young girl by the name of Misbah, was raped for three years in a Mosque where she read the Quran. The outcome? The cleric was released on bail.

The lack of a central governance for regulation and accountability escalates this issue further. The absence of oversight facilitates clerical exploitation of proximity to young girls and boys. Contradictorily, there exists a powerhouse of religious figures who rather than stand by victims, close ranks and ensconce such hideous events. They coerce families to forgive or they in turn accuse the victims of the vilification of Islam and blasphemy that they themselves committed. Such is the case in the Qari Abbas abuse scandal, as he has been released on bail, despite evidence of his monstrosity.

It is extremely troubling that the power of these groups prevents the true and deserved punishment. The larceny of a child’s innocence is not punished as sacrilege by these so called preachers and teachers of Islam, yet they openly promote punishment in accusations such as those placed on Saba Qamar and Bilal Saeed.

After shooting scenes for an upcoming music video in Lahore’s Wazir Khan Mosque, actor Saba Qamar and musician Bilal Saeed have been accused by religious circles of ‘violating the sanctity’ of the mosque. Consequently, a complaint has been filed with Lahore Police under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code which addresses; “offences relating to religion,” “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage any class or religion by insulting its beliefs” and “defiling of a place of worship.” Though a statement was released by the artists that no music was played in the Mosque and apologies were made, religious groups continue to demand punishment. Between 1987 and 2017, 1,500 people were charged with Blasphemy and more than 75 killed according to the Centre for Social Justice. Frequently these cases are circumstantial, arbitrarily brought forward on limited or non-existent evidence. Paralleling this, almost 3,000 assault cases were recorded in 2019 alone, very few of which have gained justice. In fact, clerics have often filed charges of Blasphemy against those who have spoken up about abuse. It is a tool that as noted by Amnesty International, has been disproportionately deployed to settle personal vendettas primarily by religious power groups.

The hypocrisy and injustice is vivid. The recording of a video in a Mosque canvasses large clerical and public calls of ‘blasphemy,’ while the molesting of children in that same holy place remain unpunished and unavenged. The very ‘ambassadors’ of religion who call for the severest punishment of blasphemers irrespective of the validity or in fact existence of evidence, fall silent at the violation of children by their peers. Justice is halted by the classing of this topic as a ‘taboo’ in society. If no one will speak, raise their voice and fight this abhorrent reality, then how can we protect our youth? This shameful malfeasance precipitates fear, uncertainty and fragmentation in society, particularly within those very classes that need the most support and education.

This distressing actuality pervasively and holistically threatens the future of Pakistani youth -the very youth that will in turn shape the future of Pakistan. It is undeniable that significant advocation, far beyond empty political promises for curriculum modernisation, are needed to battle this ongoing epidemic.