PAKISTAN: Rape cases of minors are increasing — during the first four months 11 cases were reported

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that rape cases of minors and young adults have increased in the country with the impunity. During the first four months of the year 11 cases concerning the rapes of minors were reported. It is now known how many cases were not reported in order to avoid any stigma being attached to the girls and in many cases the poor families of the victims were threatened and coerced by the police not to file case. The father of a seven-year-old Christian minor was arrested for reporting the case and was tortured in the police custody to withdraw his case against some brick kiln owners. Even an 18 month old girl was raped and police tried all efforts to avoid filing the case. It is a common strategy for the police to do their utmost to discourage the complainants from filing cases, especially in those cases where the police officials were involved.

The increase in rape cases of minors has crossed a critical threshold with the protection and patronage of authorities. Minors from Punjab province make up the majority of the victims where banned religious groups influence the police to refrain from allowing reports to be made. While most of the victims are from the religious minorities the parents frequently fail to make reports as the Muslim religious leaders threaten to charge them with blasphemy by implicating them in the burning of Quranic pages.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Following are the reported cases of the rape of minors during the first four months of 2014. The report comes from Life for All and newspapers. In some cases the names and dates were not published on the request of the parents.

On 27 April, a 6 year-old minor, Shazia, daughter of Mazhar, a resident of Faisalabad, Punjab province was raped and dumped at a garbage tip. She was admitted in critical condition to the local hospital where she is still struggling for her life. The local NGOs approached the authorities to shift her to the Lahore where she can be treated but the members of ruling party, PML-N, created hurdles in transferring her to Lahore city, the capital of Punjab. The rapist has still not been arrested and police are not in the least bit interested to catching him. The Faisalabad police have not issued a letter for the medial examination so it is difficult to prove her rape. This is a frequent ploy as, after the passing many days most traces of rape can no longer be found.

On the same day, a 9 year old girl, Ayesha, daughter of Mr. Imran was raped and murdered in Jhang district of Punjab. Her body was recovered from a garbage site. Imran is from a poor family and hardly earns enough money to look after his family. The police registered the case but the rapist/s have not been arrested.

On 19 April, a 7 year-old Christian girl, Sara, from Daska, Sialkot, Punjab, was gang raped by four persons. The police refused to register the case. Life for All filed a petition in the Sessions Court which ordered the police to file the case, following which the police arrested two persons. The locals, with the help of the police, abducted the girl`s father, Iqbal Masih, to pressure the family not to file a case, and to come to an agreement with the culprits so as to avoid a religious issue. The police also arrested the father, Mr. Iqbal Masih, and he remained in custody for many days. He was later released on the orders of the Lahore High Court. The rapists and police threatened him that in coming days he would be booked in a Blasphemy case if he does not withdraw his complaint against the alleged rapists.

On 7 April, a horrible incident of sexual assault was reported in Lahore when a minor girl was brutally raped by a fake spiritual leader (a pir) who was supposed to cure the victim of a disease. According to the Masihi Foundation, a Christian organisation, the family of the girl approached the local police station in Lahore to lodge an FIR against the attacker.

The family informed the police authorities that a fake spiritual leader was approached to cure their minor daughter of her disease. However, instead of curing her, the rapist who was posing as a holy man raped the minor girl and fled the house. The names and addresses of all those involved in the incident were kept anonymous on the request of parents.

After an eighteen-month-old girl was raped the doctors at the Children’s Hospital in Lahore struggled hard to save her life. The baby girl, Shazia, daughter of Abdul Ghafoor, was raped by an 18-year-old in the Nankana Sahib district of the Punjab, on 14 February. According to the doctors, who performed surgery on the poor victim, the infant’s condition is critical. She is battling for her life in the ICU. Police sources said the girl was sleeping when her attacker, Hashim, forced his way into her cottage. He fled the spot leaving the infant in a pool of blood. The poor parents were at work in the nearby fields when the brute assaulted the child. The gruesome incident took place in limits of Sadar Shah Kot Police. However, the local police are handling this criminal case, one of the worst of its kind, in their typical manner and giving preference to the resourceful accused in the lock-up. One investigator said the youth had confessed to the crime.

On 18 March, nine-year-old Zainab, daughter rof Muhammad Afzal, resident of Kamalia, Toba Tek Singh district, Punjab, was raped by one Syed Faraz Ali. Due to the weak case compiled by the Saddar Police Station the accused person was released on bail. The family members of the girl have been threatened by both the rapist and the police to withdraw the case otherwise they will kill her.

On 12 March, a three-year-old minor was raped and murdered. Roshan Bibi daughter of Roshan Khan, resident of Pabbi, Nausherah, KPK province, was raped and murdered by one Aamir. He was arrested many days after the incident when the residents agitated for his arrest.

On 4 February, five-year-old Rubina, daughter of Aijaz, resident of Batapur, Lahore, Punjab, was raped by her own relative, Zeeshan. She was critically injured but doctors saved her after many days. The alleged rapist was arrested. However the police are not pursuing the case and forcing the father of the girl to come to a compromise with the rapist.

On 17 February, six-year-old Ayesha, daughter of Salim, was molested by one Maqsood in the area of Rehmanpura, district Shekhupura, Punjab. Maqsood was arrested.

On 25 January, seven-year-old Zahida, daughter of Aqeel Hussain, resident of Rachna town, Ferozpurwala Road, Lahore, was raped and murdered by three persons. No one has yet been arrested.

On 7 January, a 13-year-old Hindu girl, Rinkel Kumari, daughter of Ram Diyal, resident of Channi, Bhahawakpur district, Punjab was raped and after much agitation from the local activists the alleged rapist, Ali Malik was arrested but is enjoying all facilities in the police lock up. Ram Diyal has been threatened that his houses will be burnt down if he does not withdraw the case.

In the month of March a five-year old girl was raped and murdered in Bheempura, Karachi Sindh province, after she was abducted by more than one person.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

A sudden increase in the rape of minors was observed since last year when parents reported such cases. The police and administration use pressure on the family members of the victims not to report the cases because the girls will suffer the stigma of being raped. However with the increase of religious fundamentalism the cases of rape of minors have increased. The police and rapists still use their power to stop the reporting of the cases. But the organisations from civil society have come out to fight with menace. According to the study conducted by Masihi Foundation and Life for All Pakistan, with data from 2013, there were 370 cases of rape, including 185 cases of gang rape; 1,603 honour killings; 2,133 cases of unspecified violence against women; 406 cases of forced marriages, including 176 minors; 220 women killed following accusations of adultery and 887 cases in which women were tortured by police.

Punjab is the province with the highest number of cases (2602), followed by Sindh (1883), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (1181) and Baluchistan (864). However, only a few cases of violence (just over 10 per cent) are ever reported so the actual number far exceeds official figures.

The survey alleges that whenever, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz PML (N) comes in power in Pakistan the violence raises to its peak against religious minorities in general and against Christians in particulars. In 1997, when Mian Nawaz Shrif was Prime Minister of Pakistan, a Christian village named Shanti Nagar was burnt to ashes and none of the culprits were brought to justice. The report of the high level Commission formed to investigate incident was never published.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write the letters to the authorities calling them to take immediate action to stop the rape of minors in Pakistan. Please also urge them:

Create a standing committee of the parliament to probe the cases of rape in general and rape of minors in particular;

The Parliamentary committee must have the power of judicial commission;

The Supreme Court must also take the Sou Moto of the heinous crimes of the rape of minors and order the lower courts to decide the cases on emergency basis;

The government must prosecute the Station House Officers (SHOs) in whose jurisdictions the cases of rape with minors held and perpetrators are provided with impunity;

The government must provide all the medical facilities for the recovery of the rape victims;

The actions against those religious groups must be taken who provide shelter to the rapists against the religious minorities groups in the name of religion

The AHRC is writing separates letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of violence against women calling for her intervention into this matter and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

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