No evidence of international child pornographic racket in Kasur: report

KASUR: There has been no confirmation of the existence of an international child pornographic racket operating in Kasur, as claimed by a television anchor. However, the claim appears to have stirred intrigue among residents of the district that has been plagued with a series of rape and murder of children for the past several months, according to a report by a private media outlet.

Taking a cue from the anchor’s statement, many residents have begun casting aspersions on the authenticity of the investigation in Zainab’s case, encouraged by certain remarks made by the child’s father Amin Ansari.

Since Thursday, Amin Ansari has been contradicting the government’s stance, the latest being a statement made to a private media outlet in which he had said that the DNA test of samples obtained from Zainab’s body indicated that there were two culprits, not one. He had claimed that certain powerful people were protecting the second culprit.

However, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Saira Umar insisted that these were mere rumours, and added that there was only one rapist and murderer involved in eight cases.

She said there was no evidence of the existence of an international or local pornography gang. The DC, who has been mobilising people in the district for the last few months trying to figure out how to combat the wave of child sex abuse that has been plaguing the city for quite some time now, agreed that suspect Imran should have been nabbed earlier.

Recalling an earlier wave of sexual assault against children in Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district in 2015, Sharafat Ali, who hails from the village and closely followed the unfortunate episode, said, “Only authentic confirmation or denial can restore the confidence of the badly shaken people.” He said the police lacked credibility so clarification, in this case, needs to come from some other agency.

Many people in Kasur believe that credit for Imran’s arrest went to Zainab’s family.

Kasur’s Vegetable Market Traders Association president Mushtaq Ahmad Tara said Imran hailed from a poor family and there was no indication of him ever having the kind of money that the TV anchor said he had made from the pornography racket.

Muhammad Younas, a close friend of Zainab’s father, said all 12 victims had been tortured and raped the same way. The first incident took place five years ago when a child from a neighbouring family in Sher Rabbani Colony was raped and murdered. A man had confessed to committing the crime but the victim’s family was poor and could not pursue the case, so the culprit fled.

DPO Zahid Nawaz Marwat said suspect Imran was arrested by the police and DNA reports had confirmed that he, alone, was solely responsible for the murder and rape of eight girls.