KARACHI- Celebrities such as Mahira Khan, Shehzad Roy, Zeba Bakhtiar and cricketer Younis Khan joined members of civil society at a press meet on Thursday. The briefing at the Karachi Press Club took place to shed light upon the tragic case of Farishta, a ten-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered.
Speaking to the media, the celebs called out authorities for not having a system in place to avoid such tragic incidents in the future.
“This is a tragic event, but such terrible incidents are happening all over our country. Children are suffering such incidents and we need to do what we can to prevent this,” said Mahira, going on to highlight the importance of educating children against inappropriate touch.
“We aren’t taught as children what is an inappropriate touch. Parents and teachers should teach their children about these things. Awareness of good touch and bad touch should begin at home and awareness to prevent abuse should be taught at home and school.”
Mahira also shared how victims who have gone through such ordeals should be given therapy sessions.
“Mental health of such minors should be a priority,” added the actor. “Education begins at home. We hope such incidents aren’t repeated.”
Roy talked about how shelters and legal aid for abuse survivors are minimal.
“This is the outcry we had a year ago when Zainab’s murder happened and now this incident has shaken us yet again,” said Shehzad Roy.
“Why are children not being properly taught how to protect themselves after everything that has happened? Why isn’t our child protection unit working on making this happen?”
He added, “We need to understand that when such incidents happen, they start slowly. It starts with an inappropriate touch that a child doesn’t understand and is quiet about and it grows to the point that a life is lost. We don’t want it to get to that point, it can be stopped in the first go if a child knows what bad touch is.”
Zeba Bakhtiar spoke about how problematic the culture of preserving honor can be, “We all need to work together to make this change in our society happen. Education for children regarding all this is very important. Social media plays an important part in all this.”
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