Kasur child abuse scandal – all but forgotten now

Condemnations poured in from different quarters against the shocking serial child abuse cases in Punjab’s Kasur with several government dignitaries calling for justice to the aggrieved families and civil societies resorting to “mechanical” method of taking to streets carrying placards against the government and slamming Punjab government, but what happened next? … Hardly any follow-up by the government to make sure all culprits are brought to book.

We are a nation living in ‘forgive and forget’ mode  — that’s primarily  a major reason we fail to get rid of societal evils once and for all.

It was utterly shocking when more than 400 videos featuring 280 children being forced to have sex were discovered.

It came to light that ropes were used to hang some of the children upside down at poorly-constructed structure, termed by villagers as Haveli, in a Kasur Village.

The culprits used injections and spent cartridges to fulfill their desire and they also shot videos to blackmail children’s families against speaking out what had been happening.

Children aged mostly under 14 were also forced to perform sex acts on each other in the more than 400 videos made in Hussain Khanwala village, southwest of Lahore, since 2007.

Reports also said that the gang allegedly attempted to extort money from parents of victims, selling clips of the videos locally for 40 Pakistan rupees each (39 US cents) if they did not pay up.

Ironic was the police attitude that transpired through media reports highlighting harassment of victims’ families at the hands of law enforcers. It failed to get government attention to shelter the aggrieved families who were already facing threats from the culprits who had considerable clout in the village.

At least 13 persons had been accused of sodomy in the 20 FIRs registered against the Kasur scandal.

A petition was also filed in the Anti Terrorism Court of Lahore seeking trial of child molesters in the military court, however, no decision

A Joint Investigation Team was also set up to probe the horrific scandal, but major breakthrough could come out of it, as the team is busy collecting evidences and preparing its report.

One can’t say that the government being subjected to castigation and questioning in unjustified as how did the culprits managed to flee despite their identification by the local villagers. With probe on the acts of rogue elements in Kasur,  the cruel role of police in allegedly  providing protection to the accused is also a grave concern that requires only independent investigators  to deal with.