Time to act

A few days ago, a video clip went viral on social media. In the clip, a cleric can be clearly seen sexually abusing a madrassah student. The video of the assault was recorded by the victim. However, it is painful to see that those who should be responsible for punishing the culprit have chosen to ignore the incident. Silence, in this situation, is a crime and amounts to complicity. Those people who had no hesitation in making an issue of the casual remarks by Malala in her recent interview are silent on this matter. It is time we accepted the fact that child sexual abuse exists in the country, including in madrassahs. The immense social clout that religious parties enjoy is the reason this matter is being ignored. Our denial is criminal.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore