How the nation was shamed!
MW was a bright kid in the classroom. Teachers and family wondered alike when he refused to go to school five years ago. Keeping mum for years, he has now broken his silence. His reason to quit school puts many to shame.
“I was 12 when one day I was coming home from the grave of my mother. Some boys at a haveli, half kilometres away from our village, stopped me and took me inside. I tried to escape but they tortured and raped me. They also made my video and threatened to show it to others if I spoke. I didn’t tell anybody and I stopped going to school afterwards,” MW, now aged 17, a resident of Hussain Khan Wala, a village in Kasur, told DNA.
Hussain Khan Wala, famous for its fertile soil and vegetables, is in the limelight these for being the place where kids were raped, filmed and blackmailed. The village is some 15 kilometres from Kasur City and 65 kilometres from Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab. The area has a reputation for the fields of vegetables, bamboos and guavas. The village, however, has come to everybody’s attention due to the child sex scandal these days.
‘I tried to escape but they tortured and raped me. They also made my video and threatened to show it to others if I spoke. I didn’t tell anybody and I stopped going to school afterwards’
MW, who was molested, filmed and beaten up, now works a small dhaba in the same village. He told his story after the rape-scandal and pornographic videos of over 280 kids surfaced.
While the media continues reporting the number of cases which are surfacing everyday, those who were victims are suffering increasing psychological damage.
“Like MW, there are dozens of kids who stopped going to school after they were raped time and again and filmed. There is too much focus on this case in the media but nobody is talking about the counselling of the victims and their families. Many of them are still afraid and shy to share their stories. They are suffering in silence because they fear once this media hype is over, people will taunt them as being a rape victim is still taboo in this society, irrespective of gender. Politicians and high-ups are visiting us and doing photo sessions however nobody is thinking about the trauma these rape victims are going through,” said Mukhtar, elder brother of a kid who was raped.
“The videos first came out when a guard of the accused took a memory card to fill songs in it. The shopkeeper copied those videos and later they started circulating in cell phones of different people in Kasur. Once they reached the village, people identified the accused and the victims and a protest rally was taken out on August 4 in Kasur city. Nobody at that time took notice as police was supporting the culprits. The issue came to limelight once the media took it up. But still nothing is being done for the counselling of the victims and their families,” Muhammad Naeem, another resident of the village, said.
Surprisingly, most of the victims and accused are relatives. “Almost all the people residing in the village belong to Arain cast. One way or other the victims are related to the accused. When the families of the victims tried to contact the elders of the accused, they threatened them not to speak about this or they would be in trouble,” SB, complainant in one of the eight FIRs in rape cases, said.
“I came to know about the videos of the kids some five months ago. The accused are my neighbours. I was going to their mother to condemn their heinous acts when I was told by somebody that my own son was also among the victims. I didn’t believe it until I watched the video. When I asked my son, he told he was raped and filmed but he didn’t tell anybody out of fear. He said he was blackmailed by them and raped again and again. I demand that the strictest punishment should be given to the accused and the government should also do something for the victims,” said AB, mother of another victim.
“The accused were two brothers in the beginning. They were supported by their other brothers and family members. At some later stage, some victims also became their gang members. They used different tactics with different kids. In some cases they blackmailed the families and minted money from them by threatening to public the video of their kid. In other cases they just pressurised the victims to bring more kids to their haveli and then raped them. They were operating like a gang,” Muhammad Akram, another resident of the village, told DNA.
“In videos we have seen some girls being molested as well but so far no girl of family has come up on record to register a complaint against the accused. There may be afraid of society’s pressure. Police, however, should be asked by the government to look into this as well,” said Imtiaz, another resident of the village.
Nine of the main accused in the child rape scandal are from the same family. They include four brothers, a father and four uncles
“The victims should be provided counselling and care in order to deal with the trauma of such a horrific incident immediately. The government should introduce sex education in schools to prevent such incidents in future. The role and responsibility of the child protection bureau also need to be redrafted to make it functional and qualitative in nature,” said Rev Fr Emmanuel Yousaf, Director of National Commission of Peace and Justice.
Victims’ Take: Nine of the main accused in the child rape scandal are from the same family. They include four brothers, a father and four uncles.
“My husband, four sons and four brother in laws are under arrest. This case is lodged against us because we bought a piece of land which our opponents had eyes on,” said Kalsoom Bibi.
She, however, didn’t explain why the videos of children being raped were made. “They must have done it with mutual consent,” she said.
The chief minister removed special branch additional IG and DPO Kasur after the incident.
District Coordination Officer Kasur Adnan Arshad said the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by the CM is probing the matter and the affected families are recording their statements with the team. However, nothing has been done so far for the counselling of the victims, most of who are in early teen age now.