It all started as a normal day with all the routine work in the office followed by humdrum at home. But after dinner whilst skimming through my newsfeed… for a second, the world stood still and for a moment my heart skipped a beat. What I saw was not only one of the most disturbing pictures that I have ever seen but also one of the most disturbing reality that the world conceals from it’s children and parents tend to avoid.
The Full Picture
The picture is a candid shot taken from someone’s neighboring rooftop featuring an old man and a little girl roughly 3-5 years old. The man was wearing a pure white shalwar kameez, white cap (usually worn during prayer) and was fashioning a pure white beard so it is safe to say that from a distance in normal circumstances this man would have looked like a religious man who fears Allah. But Lo Behold! Here is the twist captured in the picture. The man in white was doing something purely dark! The image was an untold story of millions of mutilated flowers, which were torn apart before even becoming a mere bud. This man had his shirt in his teeth and his belly bare and the little girl whose back was towards the camera (Thank God for that) was going down on him in broad daylight.
The image was an untold story of millions of mutilated flowers, which were torn apart before even becoming a mere bud.
This image gave me shivers and sick to the gut. To be honest it haunted me for days.
At one moment I am working on my computer and *poof* the image comes in front of me reminding me of terrible world we live in. And I shut my eyes tight letting the awful memory of the shared picture fade away.
If I may be honest, this picture hit home for several reasons. First of all because I was pretty close with my dada, dadi (Grandparents) and was practically raised by them until their demise and after them me and my Nana (Grandfather) were extremely close. I was 15 years old when he died and honestly I never felt a need of a best friend till his death so more than half of my life was closely knitted with my grandparents and these were the people I treasure the most. I cannot ever even in my wildest dream can imagine them hurting me or even shaking my trust. So, this picture disturbed me to the core. Cause as far as I assumed this guy was not the Maulvi Sahab that are usually notorious for child molestation. (Again, praise be to the Lord who had bestowed upon me the best Qari sahib of the world that one could actually wish for… completely different then what society stereotypically portrays them to be) because, a teacher cannot sneak in the backyard with a little girl and the place looked like an open storeroom or something, and no parent allows their children to be in the house with a teacher/Maulvi Sahab a part from the assigned room or space. So, this guy must be a relative or someone related to the child whom the parents trusted or his presence to them didn’t felt threatening to the child’s safety.
Understanding the Incomprehensible
How a man in pure white was doing something pure dark that even the devil himself might have acknowledged him as an evil man. This man not only ruined the little girl’s childhood but also shattered her self-esteem. And we as a society are responsible for letting this happen because we never taught our children about good touch and bad touch. We taught them not to take sweets from strangers but never told them to be aware of the people around them and trusted blindly on people whom we thought were trust worthy and ignoring the signs and body language of our children around them.
How a man in pure white was doing something pure dark that even the devil himself might have acknowledged him as an evil man.
I know so many people who have been molested in their childhood belonging from both genders and their parents don’t even know that they have been molested, because they are too ashamed to share it. And even if they did there is a fat chance that they would have put the matter to rest because of honor/Izzat or how will they get a decent proposal for them especially if the victim is a girl. Usually the child blames himself/herself of the mishap and hence becomes frustrated. His fear of getting scolded by parents on being molested usually gets the best of him and affects him pretty badly. And there is a fat chance that he/she will be suffering from some kind of psychological problem in the long run. And the abuser runs loose cause he knows that even if he is reported he wouldn’t be caught cause “Izzat ka mamla hay” and keeps on playing his dirty games.
Now I am not saying that this only happens in Pakistan. The ratio of incest and child molestation is pretty high in most of the foreign countries and mostly parents and children face similar problems. But, we as a society need to educate our children about this cause only 9% of total recorded cases of child molestation were registered against a stranger. Mostly the abuser is directly or indirectly related to child’s immediate family, family friend or was a servant, teacher, driver etc. But to be honest never have I ever thought that a grandparent could do something like this to his own grandchild. How can hands who are meant for comfort, warmth and love strangle the innocence out of a little soul regardless the fact that he/she is from his own kin.
Alas! We have yet again failed our children and our lives will keep on revolving around petty issues, framed politics and latest trends… meanwhile, behind our back there are unheard blood curdling screams of a child which is being repressed by a hand of a monster that live within our household and we have no clue what the dilemma the child is facing because we are too focused on getting them ready for the future while ignoring the present and completely unaware of the past.
