Pakistani madrasas have become controversial for many reasons. While there were some that were involved in extremist activities during the early aughts, there are constant rumors of religious leaders of such seminaries being involved in child molestation and predatory activities against innocent children. Authorities seem to be asleep or have turned a blind eye toward such occurrences, being more interested in pursuing political opponents.
A horrifying video of a religious scholar has surfaced since October 21, showing the maulana sexually abusing a young boy
Bilal Farooqi, a news editor, took to Twitter and Facebook to expose one of the ugliest aspects of our society.
He posted a video which shows a religious scholar, Maulana Abdul Rauf Yazdani, molesting a young boy in a car. The video is filmed by a third person. It shows that the Maulana is constantly overpowering the young boy, abusing and hitting him if he tries to retaliate.
There is no mention of when the video was filmed or how it got to Bilal Farooqi. However, Bilal did decide to put it out there and call the government to take action against such exploiters.
Social media platforms exploded after seeing this horrific molestation video of Maulana Yazdani
Several people were extremely wary of the authorities and the help that they would provide in this case
Being mullah they r exempt. No one have guts to take action https://t.co/nyy8DHdSnc
— muhammad hadi (@ghazanhadi) October 21, 2017
ملالہ کی جینز کو لےکر ملاں ست لے کر پڑھی لکھی غیرت بریگیڈ سوشل میڈیا پر پاگل ہو جاتی مگر جب ملاں کی شرمناک ویڈیو سامنے آتی ہے تو مکمل خاموشی
— Punjabi Baba (@5abiBaba) October 21, 2017
This video is a proof of how predatory men, many of them religious scholars, exploit children. Everyone hears rumors of such activities in religious seminaries in Pakistan but nobody likes to talk about it nor take any measures to address the problem.
These scumbags have been given so much authority and power that no one questions their acts and they get away with it scot-free.
These children and their lives are at the disposal of such predators. And abuse, assault, molestation and violation become a daily occurrence.
There are 13,000 religious seminaries in Pakistan. By and large, this practice is common in most of them. These seminaries have a lot of influence in the society and have a lot of political backing. This means that punishing someone in this position is next to impossible.
Boys are even smuggled from Afghanistan to these seminaries. And there is a huge hue and cry from the activists in Pakistan. They have been encouraging parents and children to open up about these stories. This will help in documenting these cases and a proper investigation will start.
Cover image via: Asghar Yazdani / dailymotion.com