In January, 7-year-old Zainab Amin's parents were on a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia when their relatives back in Pakistan called with the news: Their daughter didn't make it to her evening Quran lesson. "Stay where you are," the father, Amin Ansari, recalls a relative telling him. "Your prayers are answered there." Her mother, Nusrat, says she sat in the Prophet Mohammad's mosque in Medina, praying: "Oh God, keep Zainab safe and protected. Oh God, I have come to your door like a beggar. Oh God, please do not send me away empty-handed." Once famed for its Sufi shrines, Kasur, Pakistan, is now synonymous with darkness. During a period of two years, at least 13 children have been raped and killed in this city of less than a million people in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous state. Residents' anger finally exploded when Zainab went missing — snowballing into a political crisis that has forced officials to act.
Most of the children who disappeared in Kasur before Zainab did were from poor families who had little influence. But Zainab's family was different. They are conservative, middle-class Muslims. Zainab's father is a bearded, neatly attired civil servant. Her mother is a schoolteacher. Zainab's cousin, who is about her age, was supposed to keep an eye on her as they walked to class. But he lost sight of her in a crowd of kids. Her relatives frantically searched for her. A nearby shop gave them closed-circuit TV footage showing her walking with a young adult male. They tweeted it out, asking for help, alongside an image of Zainab: a green-eyed little girl wearing a pink jacket. Horrified Pakistanis followed her disappearance on social media. News organizations rushed in, following every development. Audiences identified with "that sweet little child's face," says Amber Rahim Shamsi, host of a local television program, Newswise, that followed the case. "People could relate to her, and feel it — feel the pain."
A poster in Kasur, Pakistan, includes a picture of Zainab and the message: "Protest. Protest. Protest. Daughter Zainab, we are ashamed. But if not now, then never. Zainab, in light of your martyrdom, we will seek accountability for all similar events in the past. We will not rest without that."
The pressure of Kasur's residents may move Pakistan's institutions closer to protecting its children. And residents have put police and politicians on notice that Pakistanis appear increasingly willing, and able, to demand change. "They got encouragement," says Waqas Abid, a lawyer who leads a human rights group, the Good Thinkers Organization. "People are hopeful now the situation will change." Residents found Zainab's body on Jan. 9. They immediately began tweeting two contrasting images: her smiling face alongside her crumpled body dumped on the trash heap where she was found. Enraged that police had not saved Zainab, the men of Kasur rioted. They smashed police cars and tried to set fire to the local stations. Prominent religious leaders opposed to the state government led Zainab's funeral prayers. Legislators and celebrities began demanding the reinstatement of public hangings for rapists.
Elections are expected later this year in Pakistan, and the chief minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif, is a lead contender to become the next prime minister. The death of Zainab became a political crisis. His government shipped in teams of police, psychologists and forensic experts. They recruited civil servants to take DNA swabs from hundreds of men. Police arrested Mohammad Imran in Zainab's killing on Jan. 23. He lived near the Amin family home. Police said he admitted to raping eight boys and girls, and to killing six of them. The national furor whipped up around Zainab's death may have left some impact, however modest. In Pakistan, it had been seen as shameful to talk about sex abuse. But after Zainab's disappearance, some prominent Pakistani women spoke publicly about what they endured as children. A few dozen families across Pakistan also came forward to report that their children were abused, according to Sahil, a children's rights organization. "I think stories like this do have an impact," Newswise's Rahim Shamsi says. "People are talking about it more openly. You have very influential current affairs programs where they're actually discussing how to change the system or educate parents and children."
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