THE entire nation grieves for Zainab and demands that the perpetrators be given exemplary punishment. While we are quick to call for retribution, we also need to realise that the predator is one of us and amongst us.

Who knows he might have been among the people protesting against the incident and demanding justice for the victim? When the child pornography scandal came to light --that too in Kasur-- the media was silenced after a few days by murmurs from many quarters that the matter was taboo and not fit for public debate.

How can the nation fight an evil that it is even reluctant to talk about? How many paedophiles have been sent to jail, to be released and integrated back into society without correctional measures?

There should be a stringent watch-list for such criminals, with a close eye kept on them even after the completion of their sentence. They should not be allowed near children. The vicitmisation of children has to stop now.

Afifa Rashid

Islamabad

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THE scars from Mashal Khan’s brutal murder were still fresh in our memory when the nation was shocked with the gruesome rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Kasur. It is time the government determined the causes of such behaviour and identified the perpetrators and dealt with them without giving any quarter.

The social taboo of discussing child abuse openly should be abandoned. Lessons on paedophilia should be included in textbooks to educate our children. Strict anti-harassment and child protection laws should be framed and vigorously implemented. The religious scholars and media should also play their role to highlight this issue.

M. Sayyad Alam Khan

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2018