Thread by @shimaila_m

A year ago, my driver came to me with a request to help find his 15yo nephew, missing from a madrassah in Shikarpur called Sibghatul-Quran. The family was quite distraught, he said, as it had been 3 weeks since the boy had disappeared and there was no news of the boy. A thread. 1

Triggr warning: this story is about sexual & physical abuse of a minor & how the state, school and the child's guardians are complicit in the crimes. It is also a story of how there is no one and no system to protect any vulnerable child. @NCRC_Pakistan
This is S's story: 2

S, who had been studying hifz at the madrassa, had complained to his grandmother of being sexually abused by his qari. She wanted to meet him and the madrassah officials to discuss but was dissuaded by her family members, more concerned with the employment of S's two uncles. 3

Both uncles worked at the madrassah. S was sent back with the advice that he should finish memorizing the remaining 11 siparas. But S returned home after his father departed for Khi but was given a beating once his father returned, and taken back to the madrassah forcibly. 4

So S decided to run away. One Friday, after Jummah prayers, the 15 year old took off to a dargah before taking refuge in a mosque in Sukkur, where he made the acquaintance of a young man who helped him acquire lodgings in a cheap hotel. 5

Here two men befriended S, offered him tea & food, and enticed him into a deserted area in the fields, where they took turns to rape him. They took him forcibly to Rohri with plans to sell him but a fight broke out between the two over the shares of S's expected sale price. 6

Meanwhile, frantic efforts were underway by myself @HaiKasur to find S. I contacted the then Sindh IG, DIG, and SSP Shikarpur, as well as @ShireenMazari1 @mohrpakistan to push for a police action. An FIR was registered & an investigative team dispatched to the madrassah. 7

But severe pressure was exerted upon S's parents by his uncles at the madrassah to retract the case. S's mother broke down, asking my driver to call off the investigation & that she was reconciled to losing her son and that the Maulanas could not disrespected. 8

Meanwhile the fracas caused by the public fight of S's abductors in Rohri caught the attention of local police who recovered & identified S & handed him over to Shikarpur police, from where he was reunited with his father. S had been in captivity for over three weeks. 9

Having decided to press charges against his two abductors, S needed a medical examination conducted by a govt appointed MLO. The MLO, however, refused to examine him, telling Shikarpur police that the crime had not taken place in his jurisdiction. 10

Once more calls by influentials had to be made. The #SCPA was asked to mobilise the required CP Officer, who had to be coerced to do his job and get the required medical certificate issued. This took place after two days of pressure exerted by multiple parties. 11

This horrific ordeal exposed the lack of systems & institutional failures at every level. And it is representative of the experience of most abused children. S's experience teaches us the need for awareness building, community programmes, police, political and judicial reform. 12

It also highlights the importance of empowering women, poverty alleviation programmes & access to schooling and most importantly for registration of all madrassahs/institutions housing children & formation of mandatory Child Protection Committees. 13

S was a victim of failures in all of the above. He may have been recovered, but will always bear the brunt of his childhood experiences. Many other children like him remain in captivity, trapped by abusers. We must do better.
#ArrestMuftiAzizUrRehman