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. ------- In a number of child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrators are either relatives, teachers or clerics, say activists. Image: Pond5/Imago Images ----- 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. ----- 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 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism