July 18, 2026
By Ashfaq Laghari
TANDO ALLAHYAR
In the Sono Khan Korai village of New Dumbalo Town, Badin, waves of grief are being felt across families.
But it is 39 year old Ali Nawaz Korai who has faced the actual loss. Today he is receiving condolences from others in the village for the death of his his 12-year-old son Imran — who died after being sexually abused at a local madrassah and being given an intoxicating substance.
Under a row of neem trees, near the village mosque, a canopy has been set up where the villagers sit with grief in their eyes. Imran’s mother, Zaib-un-Nisa, sits in the courtyard of their house among the neighborhood women. She is flanked by her three daughters and one son. Her sobs can be heard even outside the doorway.
“My darling, my peacock…my beloved has been taken from me,” she wails.
Zaibunnisa cries saying she let her son go to madrassah instead of school because of poverty.
“I thought we were poor, so I thought we should let the child get religious education at least…”
But she had no idea what would happen. None of them did.
Imran’s father, Ali Nawaz, herds livestock for a living. Three weeks earlier he had enrolled his son at the Jamia-tul-Madina Boys, a madrassah run by Faizan-e-Madina in Cthe Chambar tehsil of Tando Allahyar district, where the child had been memorizing the Quran and was becoming interested in what he was studying.
“On July 15, we learned through news in social media that a student from the madrassah near National Bank Chambar had been brought unconscious to the Chambar Government Hospital after falling ill,” he relates. “From the photo circulating on social media, we realized it was Imran. I immediately went to the hospital on a motorcycle with my relatives Muhammad Ismail and Khan Muhammad Korai, where Dr. Rano Mal told us that our child had died.”
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Ali Nawaz says he could not repeat what the doctor had told him — “You all understand what happened to my son.”
FIR details
According to the text of the FIR registered at Chambar police station on July 16, at 3 PM, the doctor who conducted the initial examination told the family that there was evidence the child had been sexually abused over the course of several days.
“After burying the body, I met my relative Sajid, who studies at the same madrassah. He told me that a fellow student, Noor Ali, 18, had forced himself on Imran during the night. Seeing this, he had fled the madrassah and stopped studying there. Before this, Noor Ali had also behaved inappropriately with him,” Ali Nawaz told Voicepk.
“Imran had also made a similar complaint at home on July 11. I met with the teacher Riaz Kario and lodged a complaint, after which the madrassah’s cleric reassured me that no such complaint would arise again. Because of this, I sent Imran back to the madrassah.”
He said that the cleric did not take notice of the complaint it seemed — he had been informed yet remained indifferent. As a result it was his son who fell victim to the brutality.
“We are poor people; how will we get justice? I thought we were poor, so let the child get a religious education — how was I to know that such wolves sit within religious seminaries too,” said Ali Nawaz, expressing regret that he wished he had not sent his son back to the madrassah.
2 suspects arrested in police investigation
According to Tando Allahyar SSP Syed Saleem Shah, the madrassah’s students had told the hospital staff that Imran had suffered from food poisoning, which was why he had fallen ill.
The child was brought to the hospital unconscious, where doctors declared it a police case and immediately informed the police. The initial report indicated that white foam was emerging from the child’s mouth, suggesting he had been given some toxic substance. Medical examination also revealed that the abuse had occurred more than once.
SSP Syed Saleem Shah, who reached the madrassah with his team on the night of the incident, met with some of the children, and questioned all the teachers. He reviewed the madrassah’s environment, including the students’ sleeping hall.
“When we learned of complaints against Noor Ali Babar, we took him into custody, and also detained Maulana Riaz Kario,” he said. “Noor Ali Babar confessed to the abuse during interrogation.”
He added that during the investigation it was discovered that children aged between 9 to 13 were being housed together with boys aged between 18 and 19 at the madrassah. The SSP said that the affected family would be provided every possible legal justice and that no pressure or recommendation would be entertained.
The FIR includes charges of murder, sexual abuse, administering an intoxicating substance, concealing a crime, and negligence in the performance of official duty.
According to the SSP, samples from the child’s organs have been sent to the Chemical Laboratory in Rohri for scientific examination to gather evidence, while the child’s clothes, samples, and samples from the accused have been sent to the relevant laboratory at Liaquat University of Medical Sciences for DNA testing.
‘A grave crime against society’
Advocate Qurban Ali Kunbhar, who handles children’s and women’s rights cases in Tando Allahyar, says this is not merely a case of murder, administering an intoxicating substance, and concealing a crime, but a grave crime against society.
“The police should conduct a transparent investigation based on solid evidence,” he said. “A sexual act was committed against a child in a religious seminary. In such cases, the whole of society must come forward. I will provide free legal assistance to the affected family, and the perpetrators will be brought to their logical conclusion.”
According to Ghufrana Arain, Regional Coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Hyderabad, such incidents keep being reported when children are enrolled away from home in madrassahs, cadet colleges, or hostel-based schools. “Neighbours and people nearby who are involved in the sexual abuse of a child also end up killing them. Ssuch incidents are increasing.”
She said it is the government’s responsibility to pay attention to such matters, and that mere verbal claims should not suffice after an incident occurs.
“The perpetrators in this case must be punished. This incident occurred in Sindh, so it is the responsibility of the Sindh government to maintain official records of all madrassahs, and to monitor and inspect the environment there.” She added that there is no coherent policy in our country to prevent such incidents.
Ghufrana Arain further said that children who survive abuse without being killed live with its psychological effects for the rest of their lives.
“Why do the commissions and institutions established for children’s rights not monitor madrassahs to see what is happening to children there? All madrassahs, their teachers, and their environment should be reviewed. Until attention is paid to these matters, such incidents will keep happening, and we make noise for a day or two and then fall silent.”
‘My beloved son is gone’
“My child went to the madrassa eagerly for religious education. He came home on leave on Saturday, and went back on Monday. He was perfectly healthy, nothing was wrong with him,” weeps Zaibunnisa speaking in her native language Saraiki.
“I want justice. My life support has been taken from me; I will never forgive. My beloved son is gone. He used to say he would become a hafiz — ‘Mother, I am fine.’ It had only been three days at the madrassah, and then I don’t know what happened — now my child is gone.”
The wave of incidents of violence and sexual abuse against madrassah students has once again highlighted concerns about children’s safety and lapses in the oversight of religious seminaries across the country.
Previously, the National Commission on the Rights of Child had demanded strict monitoring of madrassahs, schools, and other child-care institutions.