Child abuse scandal
AS national outrage grows and the Punjab government scrambles to try and limit the political damage from the serial child abuse in Kasur district, at the fore once again is the gross disparity between the powerful and the weak and the politicisation of law enforcement.
The terrible events that occurred over — and this is the truly horrifying aspect — many years in rural Punjab were neither a secret nor hard to unearth.
Know more :Accused says children abused in his presence
On July 8, this newspaper published a news report about the very shocking events in the area that had finally forced police to act after the villagers’ complaints and anger proved too much to ignore.
Headlined ‘15 booked for sex abuse, extortion’, the report noted: “The gang, according to the FIRs, had recorded videos while sodomising young boys and raping girls and extorted millions of rupees as well as gold jewellery from villagers since 2009.
Reportedly, the entire village was aware of the alleged offence but no one dared report it to police as the suspects were allegedly influential.”
Yet, the police only appeared to have acted under pressure from outraged locals in multiple villages around Hussain Khanwala who decided to protest publicly.
The July 8 report states, “On Saturday evening, hundreds of villagers from Rajiwala, Elowala, Bazeedpur, Kharapar, Choriwala, Nooriwala, Bhadian Usman, Ratnaiwala, Rangaywala, Bhagay, Jora, Nathaywala, and Mahalam gathered outside the Ganda Singh Police Station and demanded justice.
They even threatened with torching the houses of the suspects.” Then last Tuesday, protesters in Kasur clashed with the police — leaving at least 15 protesters and policemen injured — demanding that the police investigation into the child abuse allegations ordered after the July protest be completed quickly.
The background is important because it puts into context the initial denials of the Punjab government and senior police officials over the weekend. Once the scandal became national news, Punjab officialdom’s went into denial mode rather than be forthcoming about what was already known.
What should have happened? The horror in Kasur should have immediately led the Punjab government to revisit its entire law-enforcement strategy.
A sadistic criminal gang preying on hundreds of young boys and girls operating a stone’s throw from the seat of provincial power and able to intimidate entire communities into keeping quiet for years — why is that even possible?
Nationally, it should have immediately stirred the kind of soul searching and calls for reforms that are now being suggested by politicians seemingly willing to use the Kasur scandal to attack the PML-N or to improve their own standing with the public by coming down harshly on the perpetrators.
The real test though is what will happen when inevitably the news cycle moves on to the next topic. Will any of the politicians so eager to be heard from at the moment really do any of the hard work necessary to get reforms through?
Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2015
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Comments (21) Closed
The collusion by criminals and police is well known - police only act to intimidate the innocent.
Unfortunately, we use all such tragedies for mudslinging and political point scoring. This should be handled on war footing. Have a passionate debate in Parliament to address the issue and come up with no non sense, concrete solution instead of pointing fingers.
In the end, nothing will happen to the criminals. Videos will not be accepted by courts as evidence. The criminals will go scot-free. Our collective conscience is dead since many years.
With out changing the police and judicial system we can not stop such shameful acts in our society.The present PML N government is in power for the past 8 years and has done nothing to improve the Punjab police. We can not progress just by making motorways and metros.The police must be independent, outside political government influence.Sad to see our judiciary being "silent" on this issue up till know.This case should be probed by a military agency and cases tried in the military courts as people have lost confidence on Punjab government or on Judiciary.
Politicians in Pakistan, are not there to introduce reforms or to represent their assumed districts. They only run for office for personal benefits, to loot the treasury, to garner lucrative business deals for their families and cronies...
You only delusional to expect them to do anything for the common man or to point finger at criminals in their midst!
In the history of Pakistan, there has not been a single down-to-earth, selfless and honest politician. Do we expect anything better in the future? Dream on!!
Ours is a very sick society, accept it or not. When murders in Model Town do not mean anything to the courts, why should this incident. When incidents such as these happens, and the police do not do anything, for a very long time, it just shows what kind of people we are as a society as a nation. It is good that people from adjoining villages raised their voices. Why even have a police force? this is a very serious question, given that they are essentially a politicized force and work for a certain party or the party in power. Why cannot this be questioned in the National Assembly? simply because this is the mind set of those in power, the sickness flows top down.
Will Rana Sanaullah & probe officials be taken to task for trying to show this as a land dispute?
@pervaiz iqbal : You sound right, but I sure hope you are wrong.
@Irfan
I also hope and pray that I am proved wrong ( I am writing this with my eyes filled with tears).
Bad picture of Punjab Govt.
If politicians were involved then the case will fade away after some days - nothing will happen. We can look back into our such cases history.
Where are rangers ?
Its not just rural Punjab or the rest of Pakistan. It happens even in the elite boys boarding colleges including Cadet Colleges. Who will look into this?
What will happen to those children now , how will they get over this trauma
What more to see, what more to hear, what more to bear... It had been a daily routine for more than half a DECADE, where the VOICE had LOST.. It must be an end.. Please step up and rise the voice to eradicate such ills. Our voice will surely encourage the many similar silent voices to raise..
Without forensic screening video evidences can not be called authentic. Politicians do not address these matters in parliament but trying desperately to take lead into coming in news headlines.
The courts will say that all the videos are doctored, the children do not look like the ones claiming to be the accusers, the videos are hazy, etc, etc. it will take 20 years to get a decision. By then nobody will be interested in this case. Prosecutors will loose interest by then, some will not be there anymore. The governments will change and the new politicians will not want anything to with it. There are so many possibilities that nothing will happen.
No word uttered by Ulema to condemn the heinous crime in the light of Quranic injunctions and teachings of Islam is a far greater tragedy of horrendous proportions.
And the nation rose a few weeks ago against rainbow dps and gays citing the punishment of Quom-e-loot. Wonder where are those righteous people are right now?
Was there not a single MAN who could stand up against those rascals? I fail to understand what kind of people are living in this village. Those who kept quiet are the real rascals in my opinion.
where are the blasphemy diehards on this?
Comments (21) Closed
The collusion by criminals and police is well known - police only act to intimidate the innocent.
Unfortunately, we use all such tragedies for mudslinging and political point scoring. This should be handled on war footing. Have a passionate debate in Parliament to address the issue and come up with no non sense, concrete solution instead of pointing fingers.
In the end, nothing will happen to the criminals. Videos will not be accepted by courts as evidence. The criminals will go scot-free. Our collective conscience is dead since many years.
With out changing the police and judicial system we can not stop such shameful acts in our society.The present PML N government is in power for the past 8 years and has done nothing to improve the Punjab police. We can not progress just by making motorways and metros.The police must be independent, outside political government influence.Sad to see our judiciary being "silent" on this issue up till know.This case should be probed by a military agency and cases tried in the military courts as people have lost confidence on Punjab government or on Judiciary.
Politicians in Pakistan, are not there to introduce reforms or to represent their assumed districts. They only run for office for personal benefits, to loot the treasury, to garner lucrative business deals for their families and cronies...
You only delusional to expect them to do anything for the common man or to point finger at criminals in their midst!
In the history of Pakistan, there has not been a single down-to-earth, selfless and honest politician. Do we expect anything better in the future? Dream on!!
Ours is a very sick society, accept it or not. When murders in Model Town do not mean anything to the courts, why should this incident. When incidents such as these happens, and the police do not do anything, for a very long time, it just shows what kind of people we are as a society as a nation. It is good that people from adjoining villages raised their voices. Why even have a police force? this is a very serious question, given that they are essentially a politicized force and work for a certain party or the party in power. Why cannot this be questioned in the National Assembly? simply because this is the mind set of those in power, the sickness flows top down.
Will Rana Sanaullah & probe officials be taken to task for trying to show this as a land dispute?
@pervaiz iqbal : You sound right, but I sure hope you are wrong.
@Irfan
I also hope and pray that I am proved wrong ( I am writing this with my eyes filled with tears).
Bad picture of Punjab Govt.
If politicians were involved then the case will fade away after some days - nothing will happen. We can look back into our such cases history.
Where are rangers ?
Its not just rural Punjab or the rest of Pakistan. It happens even in the elite boys boarding colleges including Cadet Colleges. Who will look into this?
What will happen to those children now , how will they get over this trauma
What more to see, what more to hear, what more to bear... It had been a daily routine for more than half a DECADE, where the VOICE had LOST.. It must be an end.. Please step up and rise the voice to eradicate such ills. Our voice will surely encourage the many similar silent voices to raise..
Without forensic screening video evidences can not be called authentic. Politicians do not address these matters in parliament but trying desperately to take lead into coming in news headlines.
The courts will say that all the videos are doctored, the children do not look like the ones claiming to be the accusers, the videos are hazy, etc, etc. it will take 20 years to get a decision. By then nobody will be interested in this case. Prosecutors will loose interest by then, some will not be there anymore. The governments will change and the new politicians will not want anything to with it. There are so many possibilities that nothing will happen.
No word uttered by Ulema to condemn the heinous crime in the light of Quranic injunctions and teachings of Islam is a far greater tragedy of horrendous proportions.
And the nation rose a few weeks ago against rainbow dps and gays citing the punishment of Quom-e-loot. Wonder where are those righteous people are right now?
Was there not a single MAN who could stand up against those rascals? I fail to understand what kind of people are living in this village. Those who kept quiet are the real rascals in my opinion.
where are the blasphemy diehards on this?