KASUR: There has been no confirmation of the existence of an international child pornographic racket operating in Kasur, as claimed by a television anchor. However, the claim appears to have stirred intrigue among residents of the district that has been plagued with a series of rape and murder of children for the past several months.

Taking cue from the anchor’s statement, many residents have begun casting aspersions on the authenticity of the investigation in Zainab’s case, encouraged by certain remarks made by the child’s father Amin Ansari.

Since Thursday, Mr Ansari has been contradicting the government’s stance, the latest being a statement made to Dawn in which he had said that the DNA test of samples obtained from Zainab’s body indicated that there were two culprits not one. He had claimed that certain powerful people were protecting the second culprit.

Contradicting official claim, Amin says two culprits are involved and certain powerful people are protecting the second one

“There are many more things to reveal. And they will come up gradually,” Mr Ansari said, adding that there was no confirmation about the presence of a child pornography racket in the district. “It’s premature to say anything about it,” he remarked, reiterating his demand that he be allowed access to the suspect. “I have questions to ask him,” he said.

However, Deputy Commissioner Saira Umar insisted that these were mere rumours, and added that there was only one rapist and murderer involved in eight cases.

She said there was no evidence of the existence of an international or local pornography gang. The DC, who has been mobilising people in the district for the last few months trying to figure out how to combat the wave of child sex abuse that has been plaguing the city for quite some time now, agreed that suspect Imran should have been nabbed earlier. “The JIT handling his case comprises officials of federal secret agencies and therefore it would not be wise to claim that the police were making false claims to distort facts to save anyone. The presence of security agencies in the JIT was a counter-check on police,” she said.

Recalling an earlier wave of sexual assault against children in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district in 2015, Sharafat Ali, who hails from the village and closely followed the unfortunate episode, said, “Only authentic confirmation or denial can restore the confidence of the badly shaken people.” He said the police lacked credibility so clarification in this case needs to come from some other agency.

Mr Ali said the main suspect in that case, who has now been awarded life imprisonment, used to make clips of the sexual abuse only to blackmail victims later. There was no evidence of clips made for a pornography racket, he added.

He said that the confirmation of Imran’s involvement through DNA reports had eroded the credibility of the police. As many as three men have been killed so far by the police, on suspicion of being involved in the rape and murder of children.

Many people in Kasur believe that credit for Imran’s arrest went to Zainab’s family.

Kasur’s Vegetable Market Traders Association president Mushtaq Ahmad Tara said Imran hailed from a poor family and there was no indication of him ever having the kind of money that the TV anchor said he had made from the pornography racket. “He [Imran] was a nobody.”

None of the people Dawn spoke to in Kasur believed that any of the local parliamentarians were involved in a child pornography racket.

Muhammad Younas, a close friend of Zainab’s father, said all 12 victims had been tortured and raped the same way. The first incident took place five years ago, when a child from a neighbouring family in Sher Rabbani Colony was raped and murdered. A man had confessed to committing the crime but the victim’s family was poor and could not pursue the case, so the culprit fled. “Police must check where he is now,” he said.

DPO Zahid Nawaz Marwat said suspect Imran was arrested by the police and DNA reports had confirmed that he, alone, was solely responsible for the murder and rape of eight girls. “The DNA test has confirmed that there was one culprit — Imran,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2018