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200 girls raped this year

* 1,164 reported cases of child abuse in first half of 2006
* Teachers, clerics and close relations among abusers

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: Over 200 girls have been gang-raped this year, according to a report compiled by Sahil, a non-governmental organisation.

The NGO’s report also says that nearly 1,164 children were abused in the first half of this year, an average of about six cases a day.

The report says that these incidents of child abuse took place in seminaries, mosques, jails and schools, where abusers were clerics, policemen and teachers, adults who were supposed to protect children.

Of the 1,164 reported cases, girls were the victims in 849 cases (73 percent) and boys in 315 (27 percent). The report says the motive behind 401 abductions of girls - 47 percent of the total 849 abduction cases - was the intent to rape them, adding that girls were gang-raped in 213 such cases (25 percent).

The NGO says 79 cases of sodomy and 100 cases of molestation of boys were recorded. Children fell victim to 2,057 abusers in various categories. Over 50 percent (1,380) of the abusers were acquaintances of the victims, and five percent were “female abettors”.

Neighbours, relatives and close family members were abusers in seven percent of cases. Police, mullas, teachers, landlords, robbers, servants, shopkeepers, doctors, peers, soldiers, child traffickers, prisoners and roommates fall into the “others” category of abusers.

Seventy one percent of cases were in rural areas and 29 percent in urban areas.

Punjab had the highest number of child abuse cases - 789 (68 percent) of the total 1,164 cases - followed by Sindh with 276 cases (23 percent), the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with 68 (5.1 percent), NWFP with 21 (2.07 percent) and Balochistan with 10 (0.50 percent).

The most vulnerable group were girls aged 1-15 years and boys aged 6-10 years.

The report states that there are no safe places for children, with the reported cases including incidents of abuse at home and outside the home in schools, mosques, fields, streets, hotels, workshops, shops, under construction houses, jails, markets, deserted houses, internet cafés, inside cars, graveyards, madrassas and clinics.

The report appealed to the government to legislate to protect children in addition to amending the controversial Hudood laws. “The alarming number of abuse cases demands of the government to enforce the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) while there should be effective strategies to raise awareness among the general public about this heinous crime,” it says.

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