The Silence Around Sexual Abuse of Children in Pakistan
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
26 July
2023
New Report
Documents That More Boys Than Girls Have Been Abused
Main
Points:
1. A new report
in Pakistan states 69% victims of child sex abuse are boys; the survey was
conducted in the state of Punjab
2. There are
1.5 million street children in Pakistan which increases their vulnerability;
other factors being illiteracy and poverty.
3. It is
shameful that there is no outrage in Pakistan over the issue.
4. Its Mullas
are busy regaling Muslims about their sexual fantasies of the Jannat rather
than talking about the moral depravity which has gripped their society.
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In a number of child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrators are either
relatives, teachers or clerics, say activists. Image: Pond5/Imago Images
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A new
report by the home department of the Punjab government in Pakistan contains
some very shocking facts. The report was never meant to be public but has since
been covered by leading media outlets in Pakistan. According to the report,
child sex abuse is rampant in the state of Punjab.
The report
is based on data that was collected between Jan and May 2023; the timespan of
the survey being five and half months. During the said period, 1390 incidents
of sexual abuse of children were reported from the state. The incidents are not
localized but spread throughout the Punjab. What is discernible is that cities
like Lahore which are developed, report fewer incidents of child sex abuse as
compared to less developed cities like Gujranwala, etc. This might be the
clearest proof that such incidents decline with socio-economic development. But
in a country obsessed with bringing back the ‘caliphate of Medina’, this
reality is pretty hard to dawn on the leaders.
All
incidents of child abuse are equally condemnable. The report though, for the
first time perhaps, tells us that incidents of sexual abuse of young boys are
much higher as compared to girls. While 69% of such victims are boys, 39% were
girls. Of late, there has been some spotlight over the sexual abuse of young
girls. But the sexual exploitation of boys hardly gets talked about. The report
is first of its kind which brings about such cruelty being done to boys in
Pakistan.
The “right
minded” Pakistanis cry buckets over increasing cases of sexual abuse in
Pakistan. But like conservatives elsewhere, they get their diagnosis wrong. Not
just the Mulla but the average person on the street seems to think that such
incidents happens because women are dressed “provocatively”. What will they say
in cases where adults prey on young children? That this is also the fault of
the child? Or will they ask the child, what they were doing outside their homes
at night? The problem is that these Mullas have no idea that such incidents
occur due to vulnerable position of children. Just last year the Pakistani
child rights commission stated that there were 1.5 million children who live on
the streets. Street children are vulnerable because of their poverty,
illiteracy, etc. and also because of the predators who scour the streets for
such potential victims. Pakistan has to realize that if it wants to solve this
problem, then increasing opportunities for education and employment is the only
option.
It is a
matter of shame that despite such a report, not a single organization in the
country has called for any protest. This is the same country where millions
pour on the streets when an issue of “blasphemy” happens. This tells us
something about the priority of the country where real lives of children do not
matter. Imaginary grievances matter more than the real ones.
For those
who blame the victims and ask why children were outside their homes, they
should do some soul searching. The report tells us that many children are not
even safe within their homes. In 55%o of the cases, the perpetrators are neighbours;
13% of all sexual abuse are committed by close relatives. How does one save
them if the own family is the perpetrator?
But what
also makes these children vulnerable is that pederasty as an idea is widely
tolerated in some Muslim cultures. Pederasty refers to sexual relationships
between an adult and an adolescent male. Much of Arabic and Persian Muslim
poetry have been infused with images of “gazelle-eyed” boys to be coveted by
adult males. Their company is even said to be better than women because “women
decay” but the font of male youthfulness is everlasting”.
It is not
just Muslims who were fond of young boys but this practice was fairly common in
Ancient Greece. However, in Greece, such relationships could also be
non-sexual; the image being that of an elder man socializing young boys into
manners of civility. However, in the context of Pakistan, the erstwhile
pedagogic function has been replaced by nothing but absolute sexual
brutalization of young boys. Similarly, the practice exists in Afghanistan and
its “dancing boys” have been the subject of many journalistic and academic
writings. It was not just the “dancing boys”, but the Afghans had also
developed what were called “travelling wives”, who were young boys,
accompanying the leaders of trading caravans over long distances, specifically
for the purpose of sexual gratification. Displaying young boys almost developed
into a sport in this part of the world, with some rich Afghans owning as many
as 3000 of them.
Muslims
deride the west for the “loose morals” of its women and men. They argue that
the west is depraved because of premarital sex, adulterous liaisons,
homosexuality, nudity and consumption of alcohol. But they forget that the
“west” has passed strong laws against child marriages and sex with children,
something that Muslims have not been able to do. In Yemen, nearly a quarter of
all marriages are of girls under the age of 15. It is routine to hear stories
of young girls being given in marriage to much older males. Yet we hardly see
any outrage in the Muslim world against such practices. We hear no call from
any Muslim organization that such practices should be changed. This only shows
the moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of the Muslim world.
The
Pakistani report similarly will not be talked about by those who want to bring
back the Riyasat e Madina. It will not become the talk of Mullas who will keep
regaling Muslims of fancy tales of Houris in Jannat. In any other
country, this would have been the subject of a major scandal but not so in
Pakistan which is busy telling the world that Islam is the only solution for
all the problems that the world is facing today.
But it is
also laudatory that such a report has come and one sees a glimmer of hope that
there are forces in Pakistan who want to change it for the good. If Pakistan
musters enough courage to confront its moral depravity, then one of the first
things that it needs to do is invest in quality education and take it out of
the hands of Mullas. The second important task is to end the culture of gender
segregation so that a healthy relationship can develop between all possible
gender orientations.
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A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad
Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia.
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/sexual-abuse-children-pakistan-moral-depravity/d/130303
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