Child molestation is unpleasant news, more so when it is closer to home. While the tendency is to look at it as a crime, there is also a need to look at it as a sickness. While the psychologists and psychiatrists are too focused on treating the victims, there is a need to see what goes into the making of a child abuser and whether he or she can be identified and treated.

One would assume that the experts in our government hospitals are best equipped to adequately address the problem, and answer questions in this regard. It turns out that they are not. They make some generalised comments about the victims and how they must be protected but they don’t have clear answers about why child abuse takes place.

At Lahore’s Mayo Hospital, senior consultant psychiatrist, Dr Pervez Ahmad, sees parental negligence at the top of child abuse and believes parents, teachers, children and society as a whole need to be educated and given awareness by whatever means possible. "Electronic media, print media, schools, local councils, etc, can help educate both parents and children on child protection."

"Since there is stigma attached with sexual abuse, even when the abused reach out to the police for justice, they are instead pushed to close their case or are implicated in it -- they do not get justice. Sexual abuse is a quagmire," says Ahmad.

"Other factors that contribute to rising crimes against children are easy access to internet and all kinds of films," says Dr Ahmed. "People are not being guided anywhere, at any level. Sex is a subject on which we do not talk. There is need to impart moral values to people as well. We need to share the responsibility. Government can’t do everything alone."

"The first thing is to create awareness, the second is accountability -- implementation of the law is also very important," he adds.

Dr Ahmad does not rule out the possibility of substance abuse among the abusers.

Talking about the Kasur case, he says "Children who are abused go through post traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatric complications arise in children and that affects their studies and social adjustment."

Another psychiatrist at Mayo Hospital Lahore, Dr Ahsan Sattar, says children who are left behind because they are not as smart as their siblings seek attention. "Parents, instead of giving them special attention, usually neglect them and they fall in the trap of the abusers."

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Consultant Psychiatrist at Jinnah Hospital, Dr Ejaz Warraich, views poverty, illiteracy, lack of opportunities, parental negligence, lack of training and, above all, social injustices behind the rising level of crimes. "When parents take their complaints of abuse against their children to the police station and the police do not register the case or advise them to resolve the issue with the criminals, they strengthen the position of the wrongdoers to abuse more children."

Psychologist Dr Fareeha Mobeen at Fatima Memorial Hospital sees multiple reasons behind increasing child abuse. "Parents need to have good communication with their children. Befriend your children. Know what they are exposed to. Who are your children with?"

"Rehabilitation of abusers is possible if they are ready for it themselves," she says.

A child molester is any older child or adult who touches a child for his or her own sexual gratification. According to the medical definition, ‘child molester’ is an adult or child, who is at least five years older than the child he or she has molested.

Children are most at risk from the adults in their own family, and from the adults who are in their parents’ social circle. Abusers target children they know well.