Police have booked five accused out of eight in a child abuse scandal in Multan. The accused were said to have captured videos with the threat of uploading them on internet on disclosure of the tragedy. Police have also conducted raids in search of the rest of the three accused. According to the police, the child abuse scandal came to light after the disclosure of Pakistan’s biggest child abuse scandal in Kasur. A spokesman to City Police Inspector Rana Zaheeruddin Babar said the Mumtazabad police have registered child sex abuse complaint against eight accused. The accused were blackmailing the family in order to receive more money and the family lodged complaint after failing to meet the demands by the culprits. Earlier investigation is underway for the Kasur pornography scandal. The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Manzoor Ahmed, has sought the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) set up by the chief minister to probe the incident. Meanwhile, seven more suspects have been presented in an anti-terrorism court on physical remand, raising the total number of those being held to around a dozen. Naturally, anger runs high among villagers and the provincial police chief, who was sent on a visit to the area by the chief minister, had his car surrounded and pelted with stones before he was able to take shelter in a public school building and escape the wrath of the victims’ families. What is most important in Child sex abuse cases is that our memories tend to be short; today, even the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar in December last year seems like a distant memory. The most important step to be taken is to ensure there can never be a repetition of such an incident that has already taken place. In the National Assembly, Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rasheed has stated the government is in the process of tabling laws to better guard the rights of children. A National Child Protection Commission is one suggestion as well as amendments to criminal procedure laws. The unfortunate aspect is that we have failed to implement the laws already in place to protect children. What happened at Kasur is an eye-opener and reminds us that we simply cannot afford to fail again. The government and society at large must take every possible step to ensure this.
pk.shafaqna.com
