We will propose stricter punishments for child sexual abusers, says Faisal Javed

ISLAMABAD: Senator Faisal Javed Khan on Tuesday said stricter punishments will be introduced to prevent child sexual abuse in Pakistan.

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament, the PTI member said that the Zainab Alert, Recovery and Response Bill, 2019 — passed by the National Assembly in March this year — sets out a mechanism for early investigation of such incidents.

"We will improve legislation to tighten punishments and bring cases to their logical conclusion," Javed said, noting that there is a continuous rise in such cases.

He said consensus is needed for public hangings of rapists, adding: "Amendments to the laws are needed to curb abuse."

"Those who support such monsters must also be given exemplary punishment," the senator said.

"We have to ensure justice for the women and children that have been abused," he underscored.

Javed said the government is preparing amendments and "the whole nation will support us".

The senator further underlined that the government wishes to send out a message to these "savage beasts" to "stop, otherwise we will make an example out of them".

Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, who was accompanying Javed, also said the government was working on taking strict action against those accused of rape.

"Many cases of sexual abuse go unreported but we have to ensure the children and women who are subjected to rape are provided justice," Khanzada said.

'Have to go beyond politics'

Separately, Mohammed Amin Ansari, the father of Zainab, a seven-year-old Pakistani girl who was raped and killed in 2018 and whose body was recovered from a garbage dump in Lahore, underscored how human rights in Pakistan "continue to be violated".

"Sexual abusers are not humans but monsters," Ansari said, calling for websites that host pornographic videos to be banned and the development of a comprehensive strategy that is free of politics.