Sexual abuse of young boys by clerics rampant in Pakistan.

One cleric retaliated against refusal by a boy to have sex with him by spraying the boy with acid. No matter how sick and twisted one thinks the religion of peace may be, there is always another shocker around the corner. From About Atheism.com

The Telegraph reports:

Lawyers and campaigners against sexual abuse of children say that it is not uncommon in Pakistan, especially in the segregated surroundings of the country’s estimated 20,000 religious schools, but cases involving members of the clergy are rarely – if ever – exposed. … Haroon Tanoli, Abid’s father, met strong resistance when he tried to take up his son’s case with officials at the school. He says that they offered to help him secure a cash payment from the alleged attackers, provided that he did not involve the police. Since then, he has been threatened with harsh consequences for refusing to back down.

Even as Abid was receiving treatment, the religious authorities pressed the hospital to discharge him. Mr Tanoli managed to get him admitted to a different hospital, where he is being treated free, although the family cannot afford an operation to save his sight. Mr Tanoli refuses to back down, despite being offered one million rupees (£12,000) by the teacher’s relations if he withdraws the charges. He has moved to a secret location for his own safety.

Here is the whole article from the Telegraph as the link seems flakey

Acid attack on boy who ‘refused sex with Muslim cleric’

By Massoud Ansari in Karachi
Last Updated: 9:05PM GMT 07 Feb 2004

On his hospital bed last week, 16-year-old Abid Tanoli sat listless and alone, half of his body covered by burns that all but destroyed both his eyes and left his face horribly disfigured.

The teenager talked, with difficulty, of how his life had been destroyed since the fateful day in June 2002 when he refused to have sex with his teacher at a religious school in Pakistan.

The boy was horrifically injured in an acid attack after he rebuffed the Muslim cleric’s sexual advances. Now, he has alarmed Pakistan’s powerful religious establishment by pressing charges against his alleged assailants.

A teacher at the school, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and two of his friends are in prison awaiting trial for attempted murder and rape. All three deny the charges. A fourth alleged attacker is still at large.

It is the first such case to be brought against a Muslim cleric and threatens to expose a scandal of sex abuse within Pakistan’s secretive Islamic schools.

Abid was blinded and maimed in the assault, which he says came shortly after he rejected sexual demands from the Islamic teacher at a madrassa in a crowded, lower middle-class district of Karachi. “He threatened to ruin me for life,” Abid recalled, “but I didn’t take him seriously. I just stopped going to the madrassa”.

Abid, who was 14 at the time, told neither parents nor friends what had happened because, he said, he was ashamed. A few days later, as he played with his brothers and sister at home, he said that his religious teacher – accompanied by three associates – broke into the house, bolted the door and threw acid over him, screaming: “This should be a lesson for your life.”

Abid was taken to a public hospital, where doctors told him that he would be scarred for life.

Lawyers and campaigners against sexual abuse of children say that it is not uncommon in Pakistan, especially in the segregated surroundings of the country’s estimated 20,000 religious schools, but cases involving members of the clergy are rarely – if ever – exposed.

“They are either hushed up and sorted out within the confines of school, or parents are pressurised not to report the incident to the media as it would give religion a bad name,” said Zia Ahmed Awan, the president of Madadgaar, a joint project of LHRLA (Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid) and Unicef, the United Nations children’s fund.

Haroon Tanoli, Abid’s father, met strong resistance when he tried to take up his son’s case with officials at the school. He says that they offered to help him secure a cash payment from the alleged attackers, provided that he did not involve the police. Since then, he has been threatened with harsh consequences for refusing to back down.

“I despise hypocrites who sport huge beards in the name of religion and hinder the passage of justice in the name of Islam,” said Mr Tanoli.

“I had a beard, and all my four sons were studying in a madrassa. However, following this incident, the first thing I did was to pull my children out of the madrassa – and shave off my beard.”

Even as Abid was receiving treatment, the religious authorities pressed the hospital to discharge him. Mr Tanoli managed to get him admitted to a different hospital, where he is being treated free, although the family cannot afford an operation to save his sight.

Mr Tanoli refuses to back down, despite being offered one million rupees (£12,000) by the teacher’s relations if he withdraws the charges. He has moved to a secret location for his own safety.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

13 Replies to “Sexual abuse of young boys by clerics rampant in Pakistan.”

  1. This kid has a good dad. I wonder if there is a way to donate to help with the surgery for the kids eyes.

  2. The number of mostly girls who get acid in the face for one reason or another, typically having to do with Islam in Afghanistan alone would break us. There is only one fix that I can see. Destroy political Islam. end it in governments and schools as the US did to Shintoism in WW2. trying to get surgery for all its victims is a ton of cure for what could be grams of prevention. I do love the sentiment though and salute you for asking that noble and worthy question.

  3. Normally, I don’t support ethnic cleansing, but the time has past for the eradication of the Muslim race.

  4. Getting rid of Muslims is not ethnic cleansing. Islam is a political religious ideology. Its no more ethnic cleansing then getting rid of violent subversive communists or Nazis etc.

  5. For this dad to go to the extent of shaving off his beard, says a great deal. People like this man is learning that the “religion” that they follow really isn’t nothing but a cult and that the only power he has is what he has done. If you “ethnic cleanse” anyone that is forced by birth to follow this cult, there will be many people that would be killed. Remember, islam is NOT race, no matter what anyone says. It is a violent cult, the absolute worse one to date.

  6. ‘the eradication of the Muslim race’

    For the millionth time…islam is not a race.

    What child abuse did to the Catholic church is well overdue for the islamic world. It’s not just Pakistan, although it appears to feature more frequently than other countries in stats.

  7. Hasan Please go out and get Muslims to agree with you. I, and I’m sure every reader of this blog desperately wants not to have a fight with Islam. If you are correct about your faith, and if we agree on what ‘right’ is, the world will continue to be a wonderful place. So perhaps you can help by trying to educate fellow Muslims that it is as you say it is. For the moment, we have to go by what 80% of US Mosques and 90% of Canadian mosques preach. Violent jihad, death and genocide to Jews, killing of homosexuals, the eradication of the nation state in favor of the Umma or caliphate, and subjugation of the worlds people to sharia at the expense of all personal liberty. Please be right Hasan, I and millions of others around the world are sick to death of the Islam we are familiar with.

  8. Islam isn’t just a cult. Islam is a very violent, cruel ideology. The Islamic War Manual, sometimes called the Qur’an, is filled with hateful passages. I’ll quote a few here:

    “Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah,”(Sura 8 Verse 39).

    “The infidels should not think that they can get away from us. Prepare against them whatever arms, and weaponry you can muster so that you may terrorize them. They are your enemy, and Allah’s enemy,”(Sura 8 Verse 59)>

    “Make war on the infidels around you,”(Sura 9 Verse 123 and Sura 66 Verse 9).

    There are at least 164 passages in The Islamic War Manual similar to the ones above.

  9. This thing is really terrible that although you all people belonging to different faiths and religions and being educated or being well to have access in community forums fail to understand or…. you dont want to understand that five fingers of one hand are not equal… In your community (whether its Christianity, hinduism, jewdism), people who dwell inn are not all pious and angels… we do have eye on what bad and worst is going on in your communities.. (well that’s not the time to disclose them). in this way, yes i agree that there are few wolfs in Islamic community so does found in your communities(you dare not to refuse it) so, it doesn’t means that you come out with an childish idea that Islam is a cult without knowing ground realities. its obvious that you’ll feel bad if somebody call your religion in the way you are, its unethical… well Islam(having 1.5 Billion followers on planet) is as respectable as your religion and describe the complete code of one’s life… Its miracle on earth that’s why dozens of people are diverting to this peace loving religion rapidly… I am Proud to be associated with Islam and feel great to be Recognized as Muslim.
    Thanks

  10. how dare u call Quran as a war manual or islam as a violent cult. Is child sex abuse not common in other countries even advanced ones. Islam gives best ideology , muslims will’l ive forever and will preach islam . You people dnt know anything about islam.

  11. such voilence occour every where and more in schools in europe and USA . but religion cant be blamed for it . islam is a religion of honor and preach for charachter building and advise strict punishment for such culprits . may Allah give us understanding of islam and refrain us from jealosy and blaming a true religion .