A nation is known for the safe environment it provides to its youth and children. But if recent reports and data emerging from Pakistan’s Punjab is any indication, there is a spate in child abuse and violence there.

Take the case in the province where security personnel arrested a seminary teacher for assaulting a 12-year-old student over failing to memorize a lesson.

The incident shocked the region’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and she sought a report from IG Police in this regard.

According to Bitter Winter, a magazine on human rights and religious liberty, in the end of March, one Mudassar Nazeer reported to the police that he caught red-handed a prominent cleric, Maulana Abubakar Muavia, raping his 12-year-old son in Tandlianwala, Faisalabad. The cleric was arrested.

In another recent incident, a minor girl suffered serious burn injuries in an acid attack in Burewala.

Nine-year-old Fatima was returning from school when an unidentified cyclist threw acid on her face and then escaped from the spot.

The police last week busted a gang involved in sexually abusing children in Karachi’s Orangi Town and recovered three minors, ARY News reported.

Police said that the investigation began when a child went missing on May 11. The interrogation in the case led to the discovery of the gang’s shocking activities.

These incidents clearly show the vulnerability of children in the country from physical violence.

A report released by Pakistani non-profit organisation Sahil painted an equally dark picture when it showed that 4,213 child abuse cases were officially reported across the South Asian nation in 2023.

A gender-divide analysis of the data showed that out of the total reported cases, 2,251 (53 per cent) of victims were girls and 1,962 (47 per cent) were boys, Dawn News reported.

The report showed children aged between 6-15 years were most vulnerable to abuse.

Moreover, children as young as 0-5 years were also sexually abused. The abuser’s category of Cruel Numbers 2023 indicated that acquaintances were still the most involved in child sexual abuse, along with relatives, family members, strangers and women abettors, Dawn News reported.

With a new government in power, people in Pakistan can expect it to perform strongly for the benefit of citizens which includes the children.

In 2,021 cases, children were sexually abused from both genders, whereas in 61 cases, they were murdered after sexual abuse and at least 1,833 cases pertained to abduction.

Similarly, the number of missing children was 330 and 29 cases of child marriages were also registered, the Pakistani newspaper reported.

Even a UNICEF page on child protection in Pakistan reflected a grim picture. It said: “Children are vulnerable to many forms of violence (physical, psychological, sexual) and exploitation, including economic exploitation and child trafficking.”

“Nearly 30 years after Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), no public coordinated child protection case management and referral system, as aligned with international standards, has been established,” the report said.

About 3.3 million Pakistani children are trapped in child labour, depriving them of their childhood, their health and education, and condemning them to a life of poverty and want, UNICEF said.

UNICEF blamed limited awareness and gender-biased social norms within the context of frequent natural and human-made disasters as the cause behind the terrible reality faced by children in the country.

With a new government in power, people in Pakistan can expect it to perform strongly for the benefit of citizens which includes the children.