Child abuse: Pak judiciary rejects govt request to form JC

A rapidly unfolding child sex abuse scandal in eastern Pakistan has pit the parents of alleged victims against police, raising troubling questions about whether the conservative Muslim country is equipped to handle a massive scandal rife with rumor and stifled by taboo.

Reports said there are dozens of videos made by the gang in Hussain Khanwala village near Kasur town of Punjab.

It’s claimed that a gang of 15 men may have been involved in sexual abuses of around 500 children and taking extortion money from the victims and their families.

Most of the victims were under 14, including a 6-year-old boy, Rai Babar Saeed, district police chief of Kasur, where the incident happened, told reporters, adding that a 10-year-old schoolgirl filmed being molested by a 14-year-old boy.

Announcements were made from mosques asking the victims to come to the police station and lodge complaints without any fear.

Chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province Shahbaz Sharif said a judicial commission comprising judges of superior court will be set up to investigate the matter.

A report presented to the chief minister on Saturday said six accused had already been arrested in the case while raids were being conducted to arrest the remaining criminals. For many of these children the nightmare started at the ages of 8 – 9, for some even at 6.

But today one group tried to take advantage of those few cases to occupy the 19 acres government land. “Our children were forced into this”.

A local gang began filming sexual exploits with the children in 2006, which allegedly continued until previous year.

“Our sympathies are with the children who have been victims to this abuse”, said Philippe Cori, UNICEF deputy regional director for South Asia.

Meanwhile, police have arrested eight accused including ring leader involved in the case. An application was filed by family members claiming that the victims had been abused at gunpoint. He recalls a 1999 case when child abuser Javed Iqbal surrendered himself to the police, admitting that he had sexually abused over 100 children and drowned them in acid afterwards.

2015Lahore, PakistanChildren whose families say have been abused, hide their faces while their mothers are interviewed by a Reuters correspondent in their village of Husain Khan Wala, Punjab province.

“Every child in the village has seen the videos, they (the accused) had been extorting money from parents, threatening to leak the video otherwise”, she said.

“They sexually abused me in front of secret cameras… they came back a week later and showed me the video, and said if I did not do what they wanted, they would show it to my friends and school colleagues”.