In what appears to be the biggest scandal it has encountered in its entire history, Pakistan is now rocked by complaints and protests about the massive sex violation committed to children aged five and above.
Parents of the victims have accused police of dismissing the issue and failing to do enough to break the ring of paedophile in Punjab. Last Sunday, a demonstration was held in Lahore by the Pakistan civil society in outrage of the discovery.
Villagers of Husain Khan Wala told Reuters that a prominent family in that place has been, for years already, forcing children to perform sex on video. The footages were either sold or used to blackmail the families of the victims. Either money or jewelry were asked from them so that the video will not be publicized.
The parents of these kids attempted to file a complaint, but were either ignored or thrown out of the police station. One child was even taken into their custody and remains in jail to this day, after his mother tried to file a case. The innocent victims "were humiliated and treated like criminals," according to one of the complainants.
The news organization Al Jazeera has reported that there were 400 videos of more than 280 children forced to have sex uncovered. These children were intimidated, threatened with weapons, and drugged to perform the lewd acts. An 18-year old victim even admitted of being abused since he was 10. "They told me that they would bury me alive if I told anyone ... I thought about killing myself every single day," confided the teenager.
Saba Sadiq, Chief of the Child Protection Bureau, has demanded a high-level judicial investigation on the matter. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, on the other hand, issued an official statement which said that "all attempts made to suppress or twist the information, and there have been many, should be strongly condemned and must also be probed."
