Tag: sexual abuse

  • Private school in Lahore comes under fire for covering up harassment

    Private school in Lahore comes under fire for covering up harassment

    The management of Lahore Grammar School (LGS) 1A1 Ghalib Market Branch, including female teachers, has come under fire for covering up harassment and inappropriate behaviour by instructors for years. It is pertinent to mention here that most of the girls studying at the school were minors at the time.

    Such incidents had reportedly been going on for the past four or five years and the victims had been reporting the matter to the admin and their teachers. However, their teachers had been covering up for their colleagues and brushing the matter under the carpet. They resorted to victim-blaming and refused to take any action. Strict and immediate action was only taken after the girls shared their ordeal on social media.

    According to details, students have come forward and shared their experiences of being harassed by three teachers namely Aitezaz Rehman Sheikh, Umer Shareef and Zahid Iqbal Warraich. To make things easier to understand, here’s a breakdown of the details:

    Aitezaz Rehman Sheikh

    Aitezaz Rehman Sheikh, who used to teach politics and served as a MUN coach had been sending obscene pictures and messages to his students. The students accused him of being manipulative and said that he would coerce girls on international trips.

    Aitezaz Rehman Sheikh

    Zahid Iqbal Warraich

    Similarly, Sir Zahid Warraich, who taught Chemistry to A’ and O’ Levels used to inappropriately touch his students and make them uncomfortable during class.

    Umer Shareef

    Sir Umer was reportedly a member of the admin who would make girls uncomfortable with his stares and glances.

    For more stories, click here.

    Following the outrage on social media, the management of LGS 1A1 immediately fired the instructors and barred them from working at any branch of LGS.

    A few students have also accused Omair Rana’s wife Maira Omair Rana for not taking action and “slut-shaming” the girls who came forward to report. One of the students has also accused the actor of exhibiting inappropriate behaviour.

    https://twitter.com/kaalakawaa/status/1277180064841396225?s=20

    LGS is one of the mose prestigious school for girls in Lahore, with several branches across the city. The management of each branch is separate.

  • Ministry for HR introduces helpline for victims of domestic abuse

    Ministry for HR introduces helpline for victims of domestic abuse

    With everyone under lockdown, it is being feared that cases of domestic violence and abuse will spike in the coming days. It has already been reported that cases of abuse are on the rise in Europe. The stress caused by social isolation coupled with fears around job security and financial difficulties is exacerbating tensions and increasing the risk of domestic and sexual violence against women and children.

    “For many people, their home is already not a safe place,” says a German federal association of women’s counselling centres and helplines.

    The case in Pakistan is also similar. You may have read accounts of people relating stories of their domestic staff begging them to let them come to work because they are miserable at their homes and face abuse there.

    Keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Human Rights has launched a helpline for those who are vulnerable or are facing any kind of abuse.

    In a tweet, the ministry shared the numbers of helplines and wrote, “Lockdowns and quarantine measures often leave women and children vulnerable to domestic abuse and violence – which is known to rise during emergencies.”

    “Our helpline is here to help you,” they added.

    Last week, The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles, also extended her support and reached out to those who may be victims of domestic violence and abuse.

    Meanwhile, according to a report in The Guardian, “Women and children who live with domestic violence have no escape from their abusers during quarantine, and from Brazil to Germany, Italy to China, activists and survivors say they are already seeing an alarming rise in cases of abuse.”

    For example, in Hubei province, the heart of the initial coronavirus outbreak, domestic violence reports to police more than tripled in one county alone during the lockdown in February, activists told local media.

    AFP reported that in Spain, which has the second-worst outbreak in Europe after Italy, a 35-year-old mother of two was murdered by her partner last week in front of their children in the coastal province of Valencia.

    France’s interior minister Christophe Castaner revealed that reports of domestic violence across the country have jumped by more than 30% since the country went into lockdown on March 17th. Castaner said that in Paris alone, cases were up by 36%.

    Activists say the increased threat to women and children was a predictable side effect of the coronavirus lockdowns. According to them, increased abuse “is a pattern repeated in many emergencies, whether conflict, economic crisis or during disease outbreaks, although the quarantine rules pose a particularly grave challenge.”

    Women rights activists across the world are demanding their governments not to overlook those most vulnerable in these situations and help them out in whichever way possible. However, they fear that if the lockdown continues, cases of domestic violence could reach unprecedented heights.

  • ‘JUI-F’s Mufti protecting Mansehra child molester’; family registers FIR

    ‘JUI-F’s Mufti protecting Mansehra child molester’; family registers FIR

    A chilling child abuse case takes a surprising turn as political party, Jamaet-e-Ulema-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F)’s leader Mufti Kifayatullah is accused of harbouring the child molestor and forcing the victim’s family to take back their accusation.

    The case took place in Mansehra in December, when a ten-year-old student was sexually abused by a madrassah teacher. According to the medical report, the child was sexually abused multiple times, the child’s eyes had bloody wounds and he had also been tortured. After the medical report the madrassah was sealed as the alleged molester went into hiding. Police said that raids were being conducted to find the alleged rapist.

    In an update on the case, the family of the victim filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Mufti Kifayatullah and Qari Abdul Maalik for trying to force the family to drop the case and for hiding the alleged abuser, Shamsuddin.

    The family has registered an FIR and is not giving up

    The family says that Mufti Kifayatullah threatened them to settle out of court or face the consequences. He also offered them money to settle the case. The family has refused and is asking for justice.

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