Defend our children!
I believe the Pakistan government has failed children in the case in Hussain Khanwala, Pakistan. I think that’s the simple answer to a complex issue. The blame is down to those who do and those who allow it. The children are the victims and they suffer the most. Immediate and decisive action must take place now against all perpetrators. These are cowardly actions towards a group of victims who cannot defend themselves.
Of course the culture of protecting honour affects how child abuse is dealt with as well. This needs to be discussed. A blind eye has been turned on too many occasions. How do we expect to educate and deal with this if no action is taken? I think the main solution should be to develop an international tribunal for crimes against children - only then will people think twice. Action must also be taken against those who do not act in the defence of our children.
From Mr Tony Martin
UAE
A threat to justice
Since the victims are children, the crimes against them are not dealt with properly. Most of such cases go unreported or under reported because of the social stigma associated with it. The children can be easily targeted and exploited because of their innocent nature. Most of the children hide their abuse from their elders out of fear or shame. But, when they turn into adults, all abuse during childhood will be remembered and it will act as a scar on their personalities.
Thus, this kind of torture by society towards youngsters is a social evil rather than psychological problem. The world should be more vigilant against this tendency. Parents should watch and care for their children until they attain a certain age. Every country should have legislation to prevent youngsters from being exploited by anti-social elements. The UN needs to monitor legislations and its implementations enacted within nations because injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere.
From Mr Girish R. Edathitta
UAE
End the silence!
I think it would be unfair to say that in the case of the Hussain Khanwala village child abuse scandal that the government failed the children. In Pakistan, and in general in the sub-Continent, topics like child sex abuse and rape are very taboo. Everything is silenced. The actual amount of cases the majority of the time are never known because they are never reported. For the government to actually take action and crack down on such activity, there needs to be greater courage being instilled in the children and the victims. We need to teach them to speak up and report it.
The whole problem starts from the fact that people are afraid to talk about different things with their children, those things that are taboo. Even before this scandal broke out, the main issue has been that most parents don’t have an open and communicative relationship with their children. They don’t foster that nature in their children to open and share about things with their parents.
The whole culture needs an overhaul because it is high time developing countries got rid of such cases. Educated children are the backbone of any society, they grow up to be responsible and mature adults that lead the society and change it for its betterment. When it comes to the matter of how this should be tackled, then the government needs to take steps. Ensure that there is a crackdown on such illegal and immoral activities against children and all citizens. It is necessary to promote awareness about these topics and make sure people are educated.
From Ms Aisha Yaqub
Dubai
Enforcing rule of law
I don’t know if there is a true rule of law in the sub-Continent when it comes to cracking down on high profile criminals. Police and the system are corrupt because they support the powerful. Also, there is no shelter for the poor victims. On other hand, culture and fear also force victims to stay silent.
From Mr Shahid Iqbal
Dubai
Facebook comment
More needs to be done
To a certain extent, the government also failed in this issue. There should be periodical monitoring of all the working establishments and industrial units where they hire young children for jobs in order to minimise expenses. Apart from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGO) also should do this. In most of the countries, NGOs are doing a great job to prevent this menace. Main highlights from NGOs is that education should be given to children and those parents who are encouraging their children into jobs should be brought to justice. In the sub-Continent, child trafficking is more and now after the vigil from governments and various organisations, it has come down in the number of cases. But, still this is a challenging issue for the government. The international community should set up a tribunal for child abuse. If all the countries join together, this menace can be slowly and completely eradicated.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
Need education on voting
It is no doubt that the government has failed the victims and children of sexual abuse in Kasur. The involvement of the Punjab police and Malik Ahmed Saeed [politician] is evident in the case, in my opinion. Still the whole process of law enforcement was not up to the satisfaction of the victims’ families. It is this reason that when the government representatives visited the village, they were shunned away. In my opinion, here is where the lack of education among the parents plays more of a role than the culture of protecting honour. It is this lack of education that lets them elect the wrong representatives like Saeed who instead of protecting children’s rights, allegedly abused them. To curb these incidents there should be a committee of sincere and educated people to educate families to report such incidents immediately.
From Ms Shabina Khattak
UAE
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