Pakistan's rape of little boys

When women are removed from society.

Where gender segregation becomes normalised, the rape and sexual abuse of young boys follows. In regions where strict gender segregation is the norm, a disturbing pattern has emerged: the sexual abuse of young boys. In several conservative Islamic countries, this form of exploitation—targeting boys sometimes as young as eight—has become widespread and deeply entrenched.

The attraction to young boys in countries like the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is often attributed to the strict segregation of the sexes, where women are viewed as inferior and excluded from many aspects of public and social life. So much so that it has become normalised and accepted among a society that adheres to Sharia Law.

Unicef estimate around 3.3 million of Pakistani children live in poverty, many of them homeless and without family, living on the streets¹.

In Pakistan, many young boys living on the streets face daily struggles for survival. With no stable shelter and limited access to food, they often go to hungry. Each day, they sift through garbage in search of recyclable materials or discarded items they can sell for a few rupees—usually earning far less than what they need to meet basic needs.

Despite their efforts, it is rarely enough to secure consistent meals or safe sleeping conditions, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, illness, and neglect.

A SHELTERLESS boy sleeps on a footpath in Peshawar Saddar.

At night the streets of towns like Peshawar become dangerous and sinister. Money, food, shelter, smartphones and gifts are used to lure impoverished, under-aged boys into a dark cycle of sexual abuse and exploitation.

Boys between the ages of 8 and 12 are particularly vulnerable. Some are forced to carry the responsibility of being the bread winners for the family, some have no family at all, many have escaped homes where they were being abused and as a result have ended up on the streets.

Whatever the circumstances that brought them here, the boys are now alone and unprotected. The men that abuse these young boys insist that they are strictly religious yet justify their abuse of male children as a satisfying of a lust that they cannot help. They do not see themselves as paedophile’s.

They see the young boys and disposable. Or worse, they blame the boys for their availability, ‘promiscuity’ or desperation. If the boys will not comply for money or gifts, they are raped — often gang raped by multiple men at a time.

According to some estimates, there are 1.5 million street children living in Pakistan, whose poverty makes them particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. A staggering 90 percent of them are thought to have been molested at some stage.

“I work at a teashop on Ring Road from where I get Rs50 per day. Sometime I accompany my friends to Karkhano Market for smuggling hashish for truck drivers. I spend my night with owner of a roadside restaurant. He pays me for pleasure but most often not. At times, I feel I should commit suicide as life seems worthless for children like me,” said Maheen Jan. - 14 years old.

Selling themselves for sex among Pakistan’s street children is very common (53% reported selling sex in one study). Sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV are spreading throughout these children at alarming rates, many of whom have turned to heroin to get through the complex phycological trauma they are experiencing.

A systematic review covering 2010–2020 reported an average HIV prevalence of approximately 28.9% among intravenous drug users in Pakistan — and it is rising every year.²

These forgotten children of Pakistan have been failed — by the police, by their government and by the communities of which they live, and largely by the international community who are loathe to comment on a predominantly Islamic issue.

A Pakistani boy who was allegedly raped by a Mullah sits on a swing in Kehror Pakka, Pakistan (A.P Photo, K M Chaudary)

Islamic schools in Pakistan are also plagued by sex abuse of children.

An investigation by The Associated Press found dozens of police reports alleging sexual harassment, rape and physical abuse by Islamic clerics teaching in madrassas or religious schools throughout Pakistan, where many of the country’s poorest study.³

Police say the problem of sexual abuse of children by clerics is widespread, yet mostly unreported. However despite the many reports, none have resulted in the conviction of a cleric.

Religious clerics are a powerful group in Pakistan and they close ranks when allegations of abuse are brought against one of them. They have been able to hide the widespread abuse by accusing victims of blasphemy or defamation of Islam. God is great.

"What can we do?" he says at one point. "We know it's totally against Islam. God doesn't like it. But we're helpless against our desire."⁴

With nobody addressing the issues or the dire consequences from strict Islamic segregation and distorted ideas around sexual gratification, it is no wonder that countries like the UK have directly inherited problematic ideas form Pakistani immigrants.

The problem is everyone in Pakistan knows that this is going on in the streets of Pakistan. They just don’t see it as important enough to do anything about. These children are impoverished and broken, and discarded by their communities.

"A woman is a thing you keep at home," he says. "You can't take women out because people stare at them -- they're useless things; you have to show propriety and chasteness with them. You can take boys around anywhere with you and it isn't a big deal."⁵

Many people benefit from the exploitation of these boys. Whether it be the mafia like organisations, their pimps or simply the men themselves who use the boys for their own perverted gratification with little concern for the lifelong effects it has on these children.

Commercial sex is a widespread practice among street children in Pakistan (an estimated 88% of street children are engaging in sex) turning public spaces such as bus terminals and parks into hotspots for prostitution, sexual exploitation, rape and abuse.

This crisis is then exacerbated by society’s widespread apathy and the government's limited commitment and resource allocation, both of which have allowed the situation to deteriorate to unacceptable levels.

Child abuse is one of Pakistan biggest challenges, but without addressing the religious roots to the abuse, it is unlikely that anything will change soon.

1. https://www.unicef.org/pakistan/child-protection-0#:~:text=About%203.3%20million%20of%20Pakistani,before%20eighteen%20years%20of%20age.

2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8007288/

3. https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-pakistan-international-news-weekend-reads-asia-pacific-8fe530dc76beb1893b3b52af88cf99dd

4. https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan--hidden-shame-sex-abuse-peshawar/26574900.html

5. https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan--hidden-shame-sex-abuse-peshawar/26574900.html