Just a few days ago, the child abuse scandal was something everyone was talking about. The media, the masses, the children; everyone wanted justice. It seems, however, that everyone has forgotten about the whole thing a little too soon. The number of write-ups coming in about child abuse has now started decreasing. Unlike the children killed in the APS massacre, these children are slowly fading from everyone’s memories. While many people reading this will disagree with me, deep down inside, everyone knows that this scandal was just another piece of news.
What makes this news story just another piece of news is the fact that this is something that is socially acceptable. Child marriages, despite being ‘illegal’ in the country, aren’t something unheard of. Even if the law makes child marriages illegal, religion grants such marriages a legal status, and religious law has always been superior to the law of the state.
Child marriages are not only acceptable, they are encouraged by religion. All those speaking up against this child abuse scandal will find their voices hushed when the same question arises in the context of child marriages. Girls as young as eight can be married, provided they’ve reached puberty. Girls as young as 12 years of age have given birth within many rural areas of Pakistan. In a country where such customs, backed by religion, prevail, child abuse may not come as a shock to many.
We speak against a minor’s rape, yet nobody speaks up if a 12-year-old is married to a man more than twice her age. Since marital rape has no legal standing, it becomes extremely easy for a young girl to be abused under the protection of an umbrella provided by religion and society. With such barbaric acts being committed under the label of social acceptance, clearly the child abuse scandal that unfolded failed to make an impact it would have in another society.
Religion alone cannot be blamed for this attitude of the masses. However, there is no denying the fact that religious acceptance of underage marriages has created tolerance for such incidents in our society. There is a fine line between child abuse outside of marriages and child abuse within marriage, the latter being something nobody wants to talk about owing to the criticism it attracts from religious circles. Unless we start questioning the things which have been acceptable due to the support they get from religion, we cannot eliminate certain fundamental flaws that continue to plague our society.