CHILD ABUSE A CRITICAL ISSUE IN BOTH PAKISTAN AND THE US; WILL MEDIA COME TO THE RESCUE?

Child abuse is like a deadly disease which is not only hard to combat but even harder to stop from reoccurring. When we talk about child abuse we often think that such a phenomenon must be taking place in rural and barbaric areas where education is not widespread. The actual reality is a lot different from how we think as a society. Statistics show that over seventy percent of child abuse is inflicted by individuals known to the victim. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data system the perpetrators responsible for child abuse or neglect are most often the child’s parents.

Recently Pakistan’s Television serial producer Momina Duraid took initiative by producing a play called Udaari to spread awareness about child abuse. It serves as a pioneer television show of its kind in Pakistan as prior to this play no one really wanted to bring up the critical issue of child abuse in front of the masses. Due to the popularity of the play people are now discussing this crucial issue with more ease and comfort with their families. The highlight of the television show is its storyline which is as close to reality as it can get. Zebo one of the central characters of the serial is raped by her step father repeatedly until her mother finds out. When she tries to confront her husband about it he locks her up and rapes Zebo again. One might think that such incidents only happen in fictitious stories but that is wishful thinking as in reality cases similar to the storyline of Udaari are happening all around the world every single day! The only difference is that most of these child abuse cases are not reported as the victim is either scared of being hurt again by the perpetrator or the victim feels pity for the perpetrator’s future.

The United States is not immune to such heinous crimes as they occur here on a daily basis too. One such prominent story which comes to mind while discussing this issue is the story of Clayton Moss a six year old boy who was brutally tortured and kept locked up by his own family. The perpetrators of this particular real life child abuse case were his father Joseph and step mother Carmen. For months at a time the child was locked inside a dark airless closet. The child was chained inside a cage before being locked inside the closet. One cannot imagine one’s own parents doing such an animalistic thing to their child but this story was famously featured on the Oprah show which grabbed my attention years back.

To bring about change in the society a collective effort is required. Spivak the author of Can the Subaltern Speak talks about flipping the script which can be related to this situation. Child abuse is considered a taboo topic by the world at large but it is high time that we as the younger generation speak up against what is wrong and inhumane. What unites both the United States and Pakistan in this fight against child abuse is the intelligent use of media. Today television shows, the internet, tabloids and magazines are helping us spread awareness about crucial issues. We certainly cannot change the world over night but if people in position and power start speaking about such crimes more openly then definitely it will start a series of discussions which the general population needs to be having in order to prevent further child abuse from taking place.