- Abusing children’s vulnerability and innocence
Never was the function and role of electronic media more important than in exposing hidden social evils that represent the dark side of human nature, terrible acts that are normally hushed up even by the victims or kept secret in a tongue-tied state of denial. The tragic fate of little Zainab, despite its horrific circumstances and ending, is only the tip of the iceberg, as is evident from the plethora of similar cases that have flooded television channels since her unnatural death, a savage indictment of the inadequacy of our criminal justice system. And things are going from bad to worse, as many instances have surfaced in the past few days alone and from all over the country, of child pornography rings operating with impunity and offering their nightmarish product to local and foreign perverts.
Zainab was the extreme case of a serial killer on the loose for years, responsible for at least eight earlier child assaults and murders, which the Kasur police are confirming by DNA match. But usually children, not only poverty-stricken and most vulnerable, but also from the internet-literate middle class are lured by identity impersonation on social media, tricked into a relatively minor transgression and then blackmailed into sexual acts which are filmed, with the sordid product entering the global perverts’ market via the internet. It is an undeniable fact that such bestial trash, which encompasses a human tragedy and lifelong trauma for victims, has a worldwide readily-linked audience of depraved addicts. Some arrests have been made by the FIA Cybercrime Wing but this department needs urgent overhaul with trained professionals and modern forensic equipment to decipher suspect’s cell-phone information, while the relevant laws require more stringency and wide publicising as a deterrent.
Thailand’s lax laws once made Bangkok an infamous haven for sexual predators, but now the internet has taken over, and it is up to the parents and a specialised police section to act as the first lines of defence, rather than being informed by Canada and Norway of child pornography material originating from Pakistan.