Renowned personalities Maheen Khan, Frieha Altaf and Nadia Jamil have taken to social media to share their childhood incidents of sexual abuse.
Last year, the Me Too movement caught everyone’s attention as Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct. In this regard, many well known celebrities took to social media about being sexually abused which led to the ‘Times Up’ campaign. And now Pakistani personalities have also taken to social media to share their childhood experiences of sexual abuse after the horrible incident of 6-year-old Zainab, who was recently abducted, raped and murdered in Kasur, Punjab.
In the wake of this incident, well-known designer Maheen Khan, PR maverick Frieha Altaf and actor Nadia Jamil have come forward with their own childhood experiences of sexual abuse.
Frieha Altaf took to Twitter and shared, “I was sexually abused by our cook at age 6. My parents took action but everyone remained silent as if it was my shame. At 34 I realized how it had impacted my life. The only shame is keeping SILENT.”
Maheen Khan also wrote about her experience on Twitter. She noted, “The Maulvi who came to teach me the Quran abused me sexually. I froze in fear day after day. Share in support of children subjected to the sick acts…by so-called custodians of our religion.”
Every year young girls and boys become victims of sexual abuse. According to Sahil, (an organisation that fights against child sexual abuse) around 2410 girls and 1729 boys were victims of sexual exploitation in 2016-2017. However, what’s even more staggering about these numbers isn’t just the quantity, but the fact that majority of them have taken place in closed spaces (34 per cent of cases) and households, by people close to the families.
Statistics show that on an average, 5 children are abducted every day. Out of the total 199 cases of abduction and child sexual abuse in just 2016, 83 per cent (165) victims were girls and 17 per cent (34) victims were boys and the situation is getting worse day by day.
Also, various reports suggest that harassment usually takes places at the hands of relatives, acquaintances or domestic staff or people such as a qari or tutor.
Actor Nadia Jamil also took to social media and shared, “When I was sexually abused it was by my kari sahab, my driver & then by a highly educated elite family’s son. It’s across the board. Men abuse across the board. My family still wants me to stay silent. But the shame IS NOT MINE! Never ever.”
In another post she said, “I was 4 the first time I was abused sexually. I was in college when it blew out of proportion. People tell me not to talk to respect my family’s honour. Is my family’s honour packed in my body? I am a proud, strong, loving survivor. No shame on me or my kids. Only pride 4 being me.”
Such traumatic stories are not new. In fact, such disturbing experiences only point out to the fact that these incidents occur in one’s own home, inside schools or madrassas. Sadly victims especially girls are told to keep silent on this matter in order to protect the family’s honour.
