Hamza Arshad and Zeeshan Haider are victims of the ineffective system that fails to provide security or protection from any sort of harm. The minors, barely six years old, were molested and slain by individuals still not identified and caught by the police. The incident happened in the district of Sialkot, and is not the first of its kind. In just the last week, over six minors were molested; and the number keeps on increasing.
The irony is that no one has been caught so far, and that is agitating the locals. The reason why parents of Hamza and Zeeshan staged a protest by placing their dead bodies on a roundabout, is to highlight their lack of trust in the state and its institutions. They chanted slogans against the police because they are exhausted of a system that bears no reward for them. Every individual manages all basic necessities on their own, and the government fails to ensure a good life.
Child abuse is not an issue that should be taken lightly. It increases at a rate of 10 to 30 percent every year. According to a report compiled by Sahil, a non-government organisation (NGO) working against child sexual abuse, every day almost eleven children are molested. In the year 2016, a total of 4,139 molestation and abuse cases were registered. This was a 36 percent increase from the figures of 2015.
The law of recognises this evil and announces life imprisonment or even death for individuals guilty of abusing young girls. However, the laws do not address the issue of molestation or abuse that is directed towards boys. This makes punishing the accused very difficult.
However, the problem does not only lie with law making but also with the will to implement the laws. Such incidents are often ignored by the family as well as society under the guise of honour. Police and other state institutions are too nonchalant to act in favour of the victims; files upon files keep on piling up but the issue barely makes it to their priority list. The Kasur incident in 2015 was one of the major incidents that came to the forefront. However, it still lies unsolved with rumours of police involvement. This is how we tend to address the issues of our country.