perspective-child sexual abuse

perspective-child online protection

A Silent Epidemic: Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Thirteen-year-old Asim* was quieter than usual when he returned to his home in Jhelum from a motorcycle mechanic’s workshop after completing his first day as a chotu – a term widely used for apprentices. His father, a rickshaw driver, noticed but casually asked about his day at his new workplace while having dinner. “I will never go back to that…

Between Books and Screens

A SCHOOL administrator recently remarked in a tone of resignation that these days many parents would rather have their children remain occupied with academic work than risk letting them venture outside. “The world beyond the gate,” she said, “is no longer safe.” Streets feel more chaotic, parks feel less secure,…

Are Schools Ignoring a Bullying Epidemic?

Mrs Arshad’s son, Aalyan, was subjected to bullying at a private school…

Child Marriage: Laws, Verdicts, Solutions

Pakistan turned 77 this year, yet the children harbored by the fifth…

Futures Snatched By Force Of Faith

The concerns regarding forced conversion are not a new phenomenon in our part of the world. Almost a century ago the All India Muslim League chalked out the rules for conversion in this region. The All India Muslim League adopted a resolution in December, 1927 at Calcutta which addressed the…

Child Abuse and Islamabad

Recent data published by the interior ministry has revealed that our capital city has had 200 cases of child sexual abuse registered between January 2021 and June 2025. While the high number of cases is a major crisis in its own right, what makes it even more harrowing is that…

A Mirror To The Nation’s Young

The State of Children in Pakistan 2024 report was prepared by and launched on April 30 this year by the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC). Established by the Federal Government on February 28, 2020 as an independent statutory body, the NCRC has the overarching mandate for the…

The Children We Sacrifice

Pakistani children aren’t safe. That’s not opinion or exaggeration. It’s the bleak, burning truth we keep looking away from. They’re ignored, exploited, brutalised and abandoned on every possible front. But don’t think for a second the numbers in this piece tell the whole story. For every reported case, dozens vanish…

Horror Of Child Pornography

Another horrifying incident has come out of the hotbed of child exploitation, Muzaffargarh. A young boy, sent to collect his brother’s unpaid wages, was sexually assaulted and filmed by a man his family once relied on for employment. This case, shocking as it is, comes on the heels of an…

Our Vulnerable Children

Some 3,364 cases of child abuse were reported across Pakistan in 2024, according to Sahil’s annual Cruel Numbers report – an alarming figure that should shock the conscience of the nation. The cases, drawn from media reports across all provinces, include 1,828 incidents of child sexual abuse, 1,204 abductions, 241…

Pakistan’s Children

THE National Commission on the Rights of the Child recently published its first-ever report of data, challenges and recommendations on the State of Children in Pakistan, 2024. While the state of child rights remains dismal in Pakistan, this government-owned reflective report is a welcome change from the time when similar…

Wounded Childhood

PAKISTAN is unkind to its children. The NCRC’s State of Children in Pakistan Report 2024 scans the grim circumstances our young are forced to navigate, and spells out the systemic apathy towards their safety, health and progress. It asserts that the country faces tremendous difficulties in safeguarding the rights of…

Adopted Children Face Uncertain Futures

Children given in the custody of childless couples are vulnerable to mistreatment LAHORE. Till date, Pakistan has not been able to devise formal legislation on the practice of child adoption, despite the fact that a significant number of married couples are given temporary custody of abandoned children each year. As…

Digital Children

AS most parents with young children will agree, the easiest way to pacify a bawling child is to hand them a smartphone, tablet, or other digital device. But though this might ensure temporary calm, the long-term effects of this practice — particularly the unsupervised use of digital devices — can…