Child abuse in Kasur
This Saturday a report brought the nation’s attention to a heinous crime brewing in Hussain Khanwalla village in Kasur district since 2006. Being called the ‘the largest-ever child abuse scandal in Pakistan’s history’, the harrowing episode involved the discovery of 400 videos recording more than 280 children being raped. As the magnitude itself suggests, the perpetrators were a gang of sexual predators who were involved in kidnapping, molesting and blackmailing hundreds of children from the village and profiting by selling the videos, allegedly under the patronage of local MPA, Malik Ahmed Saeed.
Local police officials denounced the incident through statements like “only 7 cases have been registered”, as if 7 cases is somehow less outrageous, conveniently diverting attention away from the shaming culture concerning sexual abuse in Pakistan and notoriously unsupportive attitude of the police that are responsible for low rates of reporting. Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, trivialising the trauma of the victims, went so far as to say that the incident should not have been reported because it brought ‘shame’ to Pakistan. While the religious right maintained its usual silence, many liberal leaning activists were also quick to uphold the “hang them all” rhetoric – the time tested strategy to distance oneself from the “monster”, not recognising one’s own complicity and inhibiting any possibility for systematic change.
But let me ask you, are you really surprised at the Kasur incident?
The sheer scale of the operation and its persistence over such a long time are enough to suggest that this is not an isolated instance. Sexual abuse of children is a systemic issue and people who refuse to accept that and deal with it accordingly are part of the problem.
According to the data compiled by Sahil, “In Pakistan, children less than 18 years of age are falling prey to sexual abuse at the ratio of 6 children per day.” From 2007 to 2011, 10,726 children were sexually victimised. Needless to say, female children are at a higher risk as compared to male children and the latter are less likely to report abuse because of imposed expectations of masculinity. Approximately 48 percent of the cases involve children who have been abducted and gang-raped. Afghan refugees, street children and children forced into labour are at a much higher risk of being sexually abused. These are only the reported figures, and do not even include the staggering number of child marriages. Globally, 1 in 10 girls below the age of 20 experience sexual abuse at some point in their lives, according to the latest data collected by UNICEF.
A majority of children who are sexually exploited happen to be victims of trafficking as well. Despite the highly secretive nature of global and domestic trafficking networks, it has been possible to pin down some data. According to UNICEF, nearly 2 million children are trafficked every year and 79 percent of women and child trafficking victims are sold into sexual slavery. Data collected by US National Institute for Health suggests that an estimated 1 million children are forced into prostitution worldwide every year and the total number of prostituted children could be as high as 10 million. Other estimates show that over the last 30 years, trafficking for sexual exploitation alone has victimised some 30 million Asian women and children. India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children under 16 who are trafficked in South Asia. A study records that 19,000 Pakistani children have been trafficked to the United Arab Emirates alone.
Human traffickers make an estimated $32 billion annually. Child prostitution itself is a multibillion dollar industry. According to the data presented by FBI, there are nearly 750,000 predators looking for webcam child sex tourism online at any given time. Trafficked children are bought, sold and rented online for pleasure. Sex tourism especially targeting children has been a pervasive global industry for several decades now.
On hearing such statistics, people are quick to disassociate themselves from these issues, casting these businesses to the realm of some “underground, criminal dens”, away from the responsible, civilised, law abiding citizens. Such a rhetoric advocates introducing stricter laws as a solution to these crimes, conveniently forgetting that these enterprises exist all around us despite the presence of laws because we contribute to their growth as consumers.
Pornography is perhaps the biggest industry in the global sex commerce with an ever increasing consumer mass. According to an Internet Filter Review, every second $3,075.64 are spent on pornography and 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography. Content related to pornography and the sex industry account for 69 percent of total Internet sales. 68 million pornographic search engine requests are made daily, along with 116,000 child pornography requests daily. One out of five pornographic images online is that of a child. An estimated 40-80 percent of consumers of child porn are likely to abuse and molest a child. It is estimated that 76 percent of transactions for sex with underage girls start on the Internet. Nearly 70 percent of victims of trafficking are forced into sex industry and pornography. Women and children forced into prostitution have always been the most convenient casting choice for pornographic films. Majority of child victims of human trafficking are videoed and these are not only used for blackmailing purposes but are also shared widely on pornographic websites.
Although erotica has existed in one form or another for a long time, the mainstreaming of pornography industry started in the latter half of the 20th century, especially in the West. The globalisation of the industry entailed a chance to outsource the risk and profit from the videos made at a lower cost in less developed countries. The case of “Rape Camp” website in the US which emerged after the Vietnam War and sold videos of Vietnamese women being raped gained much attention. The current pornographic websites feature specific sections for Asian and Latino actors, representing the fetishisation of people of colour and overall racism in the industry. Today global pornography is a $100 billion industry, profiting directly from human trafficking and sex industry. The predators from the Hussain Khanwalla village were a small part of this broader system. The videos of the victims sold to gay porn websites at a low rate probably ended up on some of these websites.
The overwhelming response from the top tiers of the industry has been to glorify this as some form of sexual liberation. Clearly the liberation is only for men who are predominantly the owners and consumers of these enterprises because studies indicate that 88 percent of pornographic videos depict violent scenes against women and an overwhelming majority of these are Black or Asian women. A content analysis of the 50 best-selling adult videos revealed that across all scenes 3,376 verbal and/or physically aggressive acts were observed, 72 percent of aggressive acts were perpetrated by men, 94 percent of aggressive acts were committed against women and children. There is a high demand for live cam child pornography and specific genres of abusive porn exist which also feature victims having breakdowns on the set. Thousands of testimonies of ex-pornography actresses are available to read and they reveal that a majority of women are drugged, beaten, gang-raped and physically or emotionally tortured at one point or another.
In other words, we live in a visual culture where abuse sells. We consume media that desensitises us towards violence against women and children. We celebrate a culture that objectifies women and sexualises children, ultimately profiting corporate giants. We normalise the systemic abuse of women and children to the extent of calling it ‘empowerment’.
So, let me ask you again, are you really surprised at the Kasur incident?
The abuse of children in Hussain Khanwalla village is just one manifestation of a broader set of toxic cultural conceptions that allow gender-based violence and sexual abuse to go unchallenged. According to the findings of a research by UNICEF (2009), child sexual abuse among other abuses is the least reported one. The core reason that the paedophile ring in Kasur was successful and thrived for such a long time has to do with a culture of victim blaming. Being raped is considered such a shameful act that the victims were unable to come forward for years. The gang crucially relied on this factor to conduct its operations.
The cultural responses to the idea of rape reflect a broader patriarchal hegemony. Rape is still considered to be something causally linked to sexuality, when in fact it is an expression of power through the medium of sex. Rape allows men to exert control over vulnerable bodies and the culture of shame surrounding any discussion about sexual abuse further silences the victims.The alleged patronage by Malik Saeed and the local political elite is also an exercise in consolidating power over the disenfranchised villagers and families of the victims. Rape thus is a systemic tool not just because it is a product of broader cultural practices but also because it is employed to express and reinforce existing social hierarchies. The involvement of a land dispute in the issue further illustrates this.
What’s more? Pakistani law does not recognise marital rape and we have allowed ulema who consider child marriage a legitimate and religious duty to be part of a high council in the federal government. We have put on the pedestal such columnists who talk about the dress and character of the victim in a discussion on rape rather than the perpetrator’s actions. We have elected officials who care more about the international image of Pakistan than providing relief to hundreds of abused children. We have police officials who maintain that absence of visible resistance towards abusive sexual advances indicates consent. We raise men who believe that their honour lies in their mother’s chador or their sister’s burqa. We believe that being abused is a matter of shame and as a culture we refuse to break the silence.
I remember I was protesting with my friends in front of Ganga Ram Hospital in 2013, at the exact spot where a five-year-old girl was dumped the previous night after being gang raped multiple times, and a man on bike hooted while passing by us and shouted “I love rape!”. I remember when we were collecting funds for orphaned children at a traffic light and a man stopped his car and told my friend to sit in his lap if she wanted money. He was the age of her father. I remember when someone I knew asked me to come to an abandoned house or send him a compromising picture of myself. I refused and later found out that he was member of a gang that trapped young people and extorted money from them. I was 14. I still remember when a distressed friend of mine went to a renowned religious scholar of Lahore and told him about the boys who molested him when he was in 6th grade. He was asked whether he “consented to it” or “enjoyed it” and being in a vulnerable position he responded in negative. The Mufti instantly declared that he has been “forgiven” and he won’t go to hell.
So, let me ask you once more, are you really surprised at the Kasur incident?
What happened in Kasur is not an exceptional or isolated instance. It happens every day. It happens everywhere. Each time without failure we fail to build a secure space for our children and for the marginalised sections of our society. We fail to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. The abuse that happened in Kasur is on us because we refuse to challenge the roots of the problem. Efficient laws and police accountability are just the beginning. Given the pervasive nature of the issue, there is an essential and overwhelming need for a cultural and systemic reform for such abuse to stop. We need to cease our complicity, demand accountability from the state, and challenge the oppressive system that has made this and many other injustices possible.
Let’s not allow denial to prevail over our senses. Let’s break the silence.