Arshad Mehmood-Exclusive Report from Islamabad Pakistan
11 cases of child sex abuse reported in Pakistan every day. The failure of law enforcement agencies in Punjab province of Pakistan.
7 years innocent Zainab’s rape and murder shocks Pakistan/ Protest turns violent, 2 men killed,dozens injured.
“Fairy princess” Zainab was laid to rest amid scenes of mourning and tears .
Sahil is the only organization in Pakistan that works exclusively on the issue of child sexual abuse,CSA.
Zainab’s rape, murder carried out by serial killer: Punjab govt spokesperson.
Rs10 million reward for identifying culprit .
The heart-wrenching incident of the 7 years old girl named Zainab. Zainab’s murder in Kasur city of Punjab province, has left the Pakistani nation in a state of shock. Meanwhile Kasur city observed a shutter-down strike over the rape and murder of a child. Zainab went missing last Thursday(Jan4), on her way to a religious study class.Meanwhile her parents were flown to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah .
Umrah is the non-mandatory lesser pilgrimage made by Muslims to Mecca,( Saudi Arbia) which may be performed at any time of the year.
The girl was strangled to death after being raped. Police found her body in the garbage . According to hospital sources, the autopsy confirmed that the minor girl was raped and then strangulated to death.
The enraged locals on Wednesday took to the streets against the brutal murder of a seven-year-old girl after rape and demanded to hang the culprit in public. Protesters took to streets, forcing closure of markets and setting many vehicles on fire. Two people were reported killed during the clashes with police. While a group of protesters stormed the office of Deputy Commissioner.
Zainab s funeral prayer was led by Pakistani Awami Tehreek (PAT) Chief and prominent religious scholar Tahir-ul-Qadri and offered by hundreds of thousands of people. Talking to media, Tahir-ul-Qadri said that Zainab’s murder is humanity’s insult. He held Punjab government responsible for the mishap and said that the leaders have no right to stay in power now as they cannot secure the lives of the innocent people.
Zainab’s parents returned from their pilgrimage , but they were unable to attend funeral prayers. At Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport, her grieving mother said: I have nothing to say, I just want justice for my daughter.
Muhammad Ameen Ansari Bereaved father of the minor girl has vowed to not bury body of her daughter until the culprit is nabbed.While talking to the media, he blamed that the police did not cooperate with the family to find the missing girl. He said that neighbours and relatives continued search for late Zainab .
Zainab was laid to rest in Kasur amid scenes of mourning and tears on Wednesday night as hundreds of thousand people attended the funeral prayer of innocent girl.
Chief Minister Punjab (@cmshehbaz ) took notice of minor girl’s murder after rape in Kasur. The Chief Minister said, “Swift action will be taken to arrest the culprits. I am personally following the progress of the case” . While condemning the tragic incident, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa assured full support from the army to civil administration to arrest the criminals and bringing them to exemplary justice.
Police have so far been unable to track down the kidnappers despite CCTV footage being made available. District Police Officer Kasur, Zulfiqar Hameed stated police is conducting its investigation. Officials claimed that CCTV footage of the incident has been obtained by the police and the perpetrator will soon be caught. Some clear images are also obtained along with other clues which may lead to the main culprit”, claimed Abubakar Umer, a Public Relation official with Punjab government.
Speaking to media, Regional Police Officer Zulfiqar Hameed reiterated that this was the 12th rape case reported in Kasur in the past year. 12 kids have been murdered after being raped and no accused has to date been arrested.. According to sources five of them are linked to one suspect who is being hunted by hundreds of officers and DNA samples have been taken from 90 possible suspects. Last month ,a 7-year-old Kainat had been raped and she is still being treated at Children’s Hospital of Lahore .
The locals say that their kids were being raped and murdered but the police were acting only as silent spectators.
Shoaib Siddiqui, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of Punjab Provincial Assembly told Media that he has moved an adjournment motion in the house over the said incident. Siddiqui told Media Line that dozens of incidents of child rape and murder had taken place during the last one year in Kasur and there doesn’t seem to be any remedy to the incident. Shoib Siddiqui sadly told Media Line that , there is a one more bitter reality , many cases remains unreported as well where the parents of the unfortunate child left the case alone for the fear of shame.
Senator Rehman Malik, Chairman of the Senate committee for interior , has also taken serious notice of the incident and has demanded a detailed report within five days from Ministry of Interior and Punjab Police IG. She is not the first one but many other minors, Eman Fatima, Fouzia, Noor Fatima Asma and Laiba were kidnapped from Kasur in 2017, and their dead bodies were recovered from different parts of the city”, the notice from the committee’s secretary stated.
In the context of Kasur incident, this sribe exclusively talked with SAHIL orgnasization. Sahil is Islamabad based NGO , working on child protection with a special focus on child sexual abuse CSA. Imtiaz somro is a senior lawyer and head of SAHIL legal assistance team . He told that Sahil daily monitors national,regional and local newspapers at its Head Office and 4 Regional Offices to collect data on Child Sexual Abuse, Abduction and early forced marriage cases. Under the victim s support programe SAHIL provides Free legal aid, A Network of Sahil referral Lawyers are available all over Pakistan. Imtiaz told that Sahil also provides free Counseling service for CSA victims.Imtiaz somro revealed that In the previous year, the total number of reported child abuse cases stood at a staggering 4,139, bringing the total number of children being abused in Pakistan per day to 11. Mumtaz Gohar , Sahil senior programe officer told that total of 1,764 cases of child abuse were reported from across the country in the first six months of 2017. Even in Kasur,which became the centre of a massive child abuse case in 2014 and 2015—the rape and murders of 12 minor girls, all aged between five to eight years, have been reported in the past twelve months. The brutal murder of the girl, the 12th such case to occur within a two-kilometre radius of the city over the last year. According to data from Sahil, out of the total cases of child abuse from January to June 2017, 62 percent were reported from Punjab. The shocking numbers bring to attention the failure of law enforcement agencies in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab .
Imtiaz somro told that sexual abuse can occur anywhere, at any time, therefore children are not safe. Statistics show 34% of cases of sexual assault took place within enclosed areas whereas 16% case took place in open spaces.
Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a Rs10 million reward for whoever identifies the culprit behind the heinous crime. Chairing an important meeting over the Kasur tragedy on Thursday, Shehbaz also announced Rs3 million each for the families of the two protesters killed in firing by the police. The chief minister ordered that the charge-sheet for the case should be presented in court within 24 hours. Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a Rs10 million reward for whoever identifies the culprit behind the heinous crime.
#JusticeForZainab is Pakistan’s top trend and protests have been held demanding justice throughout the country.
As protests re-erupted in the city on last day, the house of local provincial lawmaker Naeem Safdar was ransacked. Police also failed to stop the protesters from ransacking the local government hospital. Moreover, protest demonstrations over the incident were held across the country, from Peshawar to Karachi. Police and Rangers are patrolling various areas of the city to prevent any incidents of violence.
Regarding alarming increase in such types of sad incidents , this scibe talked to some notable personalities.All of them strongly ruled out any religious related issue about sexual assaults. Professor Ehsan Raza is head of Philosophy Department in a state run post graduate college. He said that no religion of world allow it followers to do this type of brutality.Islam orders severe punishments to those culprits. He said that kasur incident indicates clearly that culprit is a habitual of such acts. He kidnap the girl , raped and murdered her and throw her body in the heap of filth .It shows that culprit has no fear. He said that it is bitter reality of our society, child sexual abuse incidents are perpetrated by the relatives of the child. Around 43 per cent of the perpetrators are acquaintances of the child, while only seven per cent are strangers. Prof Raza added that definitely culprit looks very close to the victim family. He said that Sexual assaults due to mental disorders are common around the world. He quoted that parents are basic responsible to educate their kids about sexual assaults.
Dr Zafer Iqbal Malik is a senior family physician.During a talk , he revealed that major mental disorders were compared between those who reported that they had been sexually assaulted at some time in their lives and those who reported no sexual assault. Sexual assault predicted later onset of major depressive episodes, substance use disorders, and anxiety disorders. Those who were assaulted in childhood were more likely than those first assaulted in adulthood to report the subsequent development of a mental disorder.
Dr Malik said that major depression, drug abuse, antisocial personality, and phobia were all associated with a higher probability of subsequent sexual assault. Scribe also talked with Ms Tanzeela Javed and Ms Irsa Ghazal, both ladies having Masters degress in Clinical Psychology.They are serving in various psychology related institutes. Ms Tanzeela said that primarily our people feel shame to educate their children about this issue. She added that unfortunately our people are not aware of mental health , so these type of incidents are taking place in a lesser educated society. Ms Irsa told media Line that study and resaeach showed that 60 – 70 % culprits are those who were sexually assaulted in their childhood now they want to take revenge. Both ladies have agreed that one of basic reasons of such brutality is access of internet to every one . Here Education is expensive , but access to porn web sites are cheap. As we are not living in a free sex society, so when youngers watch porn sites , ultimately their thoughts dominate them and in the result Kasur type incident takes place.Ms Tanzeela said that it is real time to talk, It’s time to empower your children to be brave and safe.
