Pedophile who molested a dozen children nabbed in Lahore

Police on Thursday, April 8, arrested a pedophile accused of raping nearly a dozen children in Lahore’s Sanda area. The suspect, who lured in minors under the pretext of training them how to use a gun, would film the assault and blackmail his victims. Police were able to recover these videos.

The suspect was caught by locals who then alerted the police. A resident of Lahore’s Rajgarh neighbourhood registered a case against the detainee, stating that the suspect had sexually assaulted his brother as well as ten other children. He claimed that the suspect was forcibly taking the complainants brother with him when locals intervened.

Dour state of children’s rights in Pakistan

22.84 million Pakistani children of school-going age are not in schools (the second highest in the world), of whom 12 million are engaged in hazardous labour and 1.2 million work and live on the streets.

These figures were revealed by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) Programme Manager Khalil Ahmed Dogar during a session on the “State of child rights in view of Pakistan’s international commitments” at the National Press Club this Thursday.

He stated that although Pakistan is signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) since the past 30 years, the lack of political will in implementing infrastructural reforms for the uplift of children has deprived them of their rights to survival, protection and development.

Third khawaja sira killed in one week

Lahore police on Thursday discovered the charred remains of 25-year-old Chunnu from her home in Asif Town, Nishtar Colony. Police suspect she may have been burned alive. According to the deceased’s friend, she had come to Lahore from Mandi Ahmadabad and was often hired to dance, but there had been no quarrel.

Chunnu is the third khawaja sira to be murdered in the past week, following 65-year-old Mumtaz in Karachi’s Korangi on April 6, and transgender activist and UNDP Pakistan Master Trainer Bubbli in Taxila on April 8.