Pakistan hit with the 'biggest' child abuse case

Officials in the Pakistani state of Punjab have called for a federal inquiry into what it called the largest-ever child abuse case in the South Asian country's history involving nearly 300 children.
The government of Punjab state on Sunday ordered a judicial investigation into the case that came to light last week after discovery of about 400 video recordings of more than 280 children being forced to have sex.

"Those involved in the case will be severely punished. They will not be able to escape their fate. The affected families will be provided with justice at any cost," Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper website.

'Punjab government is sleeping'

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq while speaking to the press on Sunday accused the Punjab government of sleeping "while the Punjab police sides with the culprits instead of the victims."

The JI emir said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif should have taken notice of the incident immediately.

"The provincial government should have reached Kasur to address the grievances of victims," he said, adding, "Instead, those who were protesting against injustice were baton-charged."

'There is no land dispute'

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed while speaking to the press on Sunday said that his party would submit a condemnation resolution in the Punjab Assembly.

Rasheed said the PTI would hold protests against the scandal and will not rest until those responsible for the incident are brought to justice.

"This incident is a failure of the government. There is no land dispute, that is a separate matter which has nothing to do with the sexual abuse of children." he said.

"There should be a complete inquiry into the incident and the judicial commission ordered by the Chief Minister should initiate its probe immediately," he said, adding that the CM should also take note of intimidatory tactics employed by the police in the area.

"No one's lives and property are safe in Punjab," he added.

Most of the victims were under 14, including a six-year-old boy, Rai Babar Saeed, district police chief of Kasur, where the incident happened, told reporters, adding that a 10-year-old schoolgirl was filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy.

Videos of these assaults were filmed and thousands of copies are believed to have been sold in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district, the police said.

One of the victims said he was injected in the spine with a drug before he was assaulted, they added.

Government in denial

The scale of the scandal emerged earlier this week after the victims' parents clashed with the police during a protest against their failure to prosecute the men who orchestrated the scandal.

People are protesting in the wake of the scandal calling for action against perpetrators [Photo: AFP]

Pakistan experienced a similar tragedy in the late 1990s, when 100 children were sexually abused and murdered in Lahore by Javed Iqbal Mughal, a serial killer.

Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist in Islamabad, during an interview, said that the government is "in denial" about the abuses.

"I think Pakistan is failing its children," she said, adding that the stigma about the cases, and the lack of trust in the court system, have prevented the arrest and persecution of abusers.

Source: Al Jazeera