ISLAMABAD: Last year saw an alarming 85pc increase in child abuse cases in the federal capital territory, the NGO Sahil reported on Tuesday.

Its 50-page report, titled ‘Cruel Numbers 2015’ and gleaned from newspapers, said the 167 child abuse cases reported in Islamabad in 2015 surpassed the 113 cases reported from the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Altogether 3,768 children - 1,974 girls and 1,794 boys - were reportedly abused across the country during 2015. That showed a 7pc rise in the crime over 2014 and the sordid statistic of 10 children abused every day during 2015.

Worse, the rapists murdered 97 of their victims.

Highest number of abuse case were reported from Punjab – 2,616, followed by 638 cases from Sindh, 207 from Balochistan, three from Fata and 21 from Azad Kashmir.

Victims from rural areas make up 74pc while the remaining belong to urban centres. Police registered FIR in 68pc of the cases but refused 9pc of them. Four percent of the cases went unregistered.

Most of the cases concerned the major crime of rape, including gang rape. There were 1,723 such cases, 290 of attempted sexual assault.

The Sahil report noted that 11 to 15-year-old children remained the most vulnerable age group. However there are cases where children as young as five were also abused.

Sahil’s research also discovered 112 cases of child marriages during 2015. However, abduction cases recorded significant decrease of 24pc – from 1,831 cases reported in 2014 to 1,386 in 2015.

While sharing some case studies, the NGO’s executive director Dr Manizeh Bano said boys were equally vulnerable to sexual abuse. She said that purpose of the research was to provide facts and figures about child abuse and its dynamic.

The director general of the human rights wing of the Ministry of Law Justice and Human Rights, Mohammad Hassan Mangi, on the occasion shed light on the recent amendment in Pakistan Penal Code. He said The Criminal Law Amendment Bill 2013 passed by the Senate clearly criminalises pornography, neglect and cruelty to a child.

Allison Stewart, Counsellor (Political and Commercial) of the Canadian High Commission, who was chief guest at the report launching ceremony, distributed Child Friendly Newspaper and Best Volunteer Awards. The awards covered national, regional and local newspapers.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2016