THE 1,914 cases of child abuse across Pakistan in the first six months of 2026 should spark outrage. The figure works out to more than 10 cases a day, and even that is only what appeared in newspapers monitored by Sahil. Of the total, 1,015 involved child sexual abuse, 558 abduction, 101 missing children, 35 child marriages and 98 pornography linked to sexual abuse. Forty-nine infants were found abandoned on the roadside. Girls accounted for 58pc of victims, though boys constituted 59pc of the pornography-linked cases. Children aged 11 to 15 were the largest group, with 598 victims, followed by 356 aged 16 to 18 and 329 aged six to 10. In 487 cases, the child’s age was not reported. But the most disturbing numbers concern who commits the abuse. In 43pc of cases the alleged abuser was an acquaintance, while 45pc of incidents took place in the victim’s own home. The recent Qayyumabad case in Karachi, involving the alleged rape and murder of a toddler by a teenage relative living with the family, provides a chilling context. The danger is often embedded in familiar relationships where children should be safest.

There is little comfort in the fact that the overall tally is marginally lower than the 1,956 cases recorded in the same period in 2025. A small fall cannot be confused with progress, particularly when Sahil’s method captures only cases that reach the press. Nor can these figures tell us conclusively whether abuse itself is rising or reporting has improved. What they do establish is persistent failure. Punjab alone accounts for 80pc of reported cases, and all 10 districts identified by Sahil as the most vulnerable are in the province. Meanwhile, 89pc of cases were registered with police. That is welcome, but an FIR is not a child protection policy. Registration comes after the damage is done. The state’s task is prevention — functioning child-protection authorities, trained police and social workers, safe schools and neighbourhoods, swift prosecution and reporting systems that children can trust. Pakistan has no shortage of laws and departments in this respect, nor any lack of condemnatory statements after each atrocity. What it does not have is evidence that these mechanisms are keeping its children safe. When hundreds of children can be abused, abducted, exploited or abandoned in six months, the state cannot take comfort in recording the crime. It should be made to answer for failing to prevent it.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026