In August of last year Pakistan was rocked by the most sordid of scandals when the long running paedophilic ring in Kasur was exposed by news media and shocked the country. The Kasur case revealed the depths of depravity that lurk just underneath the facade of normality in our society. The aforementioned paedophilic ring had abused and tormented hundreds of young boys for years and damaged many for life; moreover it degraded many of the victims and turned them into perpetrators. Pornographic videos of the children being raped and abused were commonly available and exchanged in the city. But for many years there was no recourse for the children, many of whom suffered in silence, or for their families who had to helplessly endure watching their children undergo such horror without understanding what had been happening. The disgusting affair went uncovered and unpunished for years because as with most nefarious activities in this country, the paedophilic ring involved powerful local men, many of whom were nominal members of the ruling political party. The ring persisted because of police complicity and community’s neglect, and once the lid was lifted by the media, there were many prominent voices that rushed to downplay the severity of the incident by trying to portray it as a matter of land dispute. Given the media’ sound and fury, the Chief Minister (CM) formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), as is the fashion whenever an inconvenient scandal comes to the fore, which was itself accused of being insensitive to the victims’ plight and focused on inventing a cover-up so that the scandal would die out. More egregiously it turned out that distribution of child pornography was technically not a crime on the statute, revealing the insufficiency of Pakistan’s law and law enforcement when it comes to providing a framework to protect our most vulnerable segment of population: the innocent children. Suffice it to say, because of law enforcement’s toothless and unwilling nature, as well as disingenuous sentiments regarding child abuse in general, despite the horrid nature and scope of the Kasur crime, not many perpetrators have been brought to justice
Almost half a year later, now it seems that there is some belated rectification when it comes to the letter of the law. In line with a series of moves and legislations passed in the past two months that have fed the optimists’ hopes that the country is finally headed in a more sensible and tolerant place, Pakistan’s Senate on Friday passed a bill that criminalises for the first time sexual assault against minors, child pornography and trafficking. The amendment to the penal code, which would come into effect after its ratification by the president, raises the age of criminal responsibility from seven to 10 years. Under the revised legislation, a sexual assault will be punishable by up to seven years in prison. Previously, only rape was criminalised. Likewise, child pornography, which was previously not mentioned in the law, will be punishable by seven years in prison and a fine of Rs 700,000. Previously, traffickers were liable to punishment only if they would traffic children abroad. The legislation would help protect the children against any kind of mental and physical abuse. The new amendment also criminalises child trafficking within Pakistan. Previously traffickers were only liable for punishment if they removed children from the country. This law has been hailed by many activists and legal experts as an essential step in realising the obligations the Pakistani state has to its citizens. Indeed, the law is highly welcome and much needed. But simply having the right law on the books isn’t enough. The Kasur case revealed that there is a deep seated attitudinal problem in Pakistani society when it comes to child abuse. There is a great discomfort and inability for many when it comes to acknowledging that such a grave occurrence is commonplace in Pakistan; not only that but the fact that most abused children are abused not by strangers but by close relatives is something that falls of deaf ears. The issue is wrongly conflated with that of honour and rather than confront an inconvenient and unpleasant truth, many are content to not rock the boat. Thus reporting of these crimes is very low, thereby decreasing the chances of criminals being prosecuted. Moreover implementation of the law otherwise needs a concentrated effort too as the police itself is likely to not treat the crimes of this nature with the required level of sensitivity. In short, the passage of the law is merely the first step on the long road to eliminate child abuse. *