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Following the case of 10-year-old Farishta, who was raped and murdered, celebrities including Mahira Khan, Shehzad Roy and Zeba Bakhtiyar held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday to shed light on the matter of child sexual abuse and the urgent need to overcome it. They were joined by cricketer Younis Khan.

Speaking at the press conference, Mahira said that given the outrage after Zainab’s case, abuse cases should have lessened but they haven’t. Sharing some statistics, Mahira said that most cases often go unreported because of the shame attached to them.

“We are ashamed [of sharing such incidences] because, as children, we are not taught which touch is wrong,” Mahira said.

She then called for spreading awareness on the matter by educating children on abuse and allowing them to discuss it and letting go of the shame.

“Please, when these things are not talked about in your homes, don’t hush your children up… because you can’t even think what those children must be experiencing at the time,” she asserted.

Singer-turned-activist Shehzad Roy was more aggressive on the matter. He raised some serious points of concern and questioned: “Why are children not being taught how to protect themselves? Why isn’t our child protection unit working on making this happen? Why is the social welfare department not active? Why are the police not being trained to handle such cases?”

Shehzad explained that the cycle of abuse starts slowly before getting to a point of no return. He emphasised that we should prevent that point from being reached by being more alert and educating the children.

Zeba Bakhtiar speaking on the issue said that most cases are kept under wraps because of the matter of honour. She called for awareness and unity in order to solve this problem. She further went on to say that Pakistan is supposed to be “an Islamic country” but where is Islam?

Meanwhile, after the press conference, a social media user accused Mahira and others of using “rape cases to promote their agenda” and blamed the showbiz industry for the rise in the cases. Here’s what Mahira had to say to him:

Transgender activist Kami Sid, whose film, Rani recently screened at the Cannes has been accused of raping a teenager.

The incident came to light when a social media user, Minahil Baloch, asked everyone to boycott those accused of rape “even if they make it to Cannes.” Though Minahil didn’t take anyone’s name, Kami allegedly accused her of defamation. Minahil shared the screenshots of her conversation with Kami and alleged that she was being threatened by the activist and in case anything happens to her Kami would be responsible.

Following Minahil’s allegations, several other social media users also came forward and spoke about the incident which reportedly happened a few years back.

According to the details available, the victim, a young teenage boy who identified himself as a woman, ran away from home in Sukkur and came to Karachi. Since he belonged to the same community as Kami, Kami offered him a home with her. It was then when she and boyfriend subjected the teenager to rape and torture among other things. The matter was initially brushed aside because everyone was “scared” of Kami. However, when the guru of Khwaja siras found out about the incident, she came forward and asked the organisation where Kami was working to fire her else she’ll lodge a protest. Kami was suspended from the organisation but came back after she paid “compensation” and apologised for her actions.

A closed-door inquiry was also held at Women Action Forum Karachi (WAF-Karachi) in the presence of several senior feminists but they’ve remained quiet about the incident.

Unfortunately, the victim passed away a few months back. She was reportedly murdered by her own lover. The case is currently ongoing.

The matter never came to light as Kami allegedly threatened everyone to maintain silence and keep this matter a secret. However, it was still a lesser-known fact because of which Kami was apparently dropped from the Karachi Literary Festival and Lahooti.

Meanwhile, Kami has not publicly spoken about the matter as yet. However, a user shared a screenshot of her conversation with her on the matter.