Redirecting faith influencers

2026-01-29 - 21:21

Akhtar Hussain Syed RELIGIOUS debates around sectarian issues and religious differences are common in Pakistan, a country known for its diverse religious and socio-cultural landscape. In the era of negativity, misuse of religion and hatred, can we redirect debate around sectarian differences to finding pathways for providing a safe and secure future to the children? Children makeup 47% of the population and child protection indicators are not very positive. Pakistan has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world; the child marriage prevalence rate is 18.3% for girls under 18. Besides this, our children are victims of exploitation, abuse, violence and neglect at large. According to the SSDO report, in 2024, 21 children were abused daily in Pakistan. 7608 cases of violence against, 2954 cases of sexual abuse, and 2437 cases of kidnapping were reported. This report only reflects cases that were formally registered by the police through an FIR. There is no doubt that the number of unreported cases is significantly higher, as people often avoid reporting cases due to socio-cultural barriers. Children are at risk of violence everywhere. The cases of violence against children in Madrassas get special attention from the media. The reason might be the traditional respect and influence of faith leaders in communities and the moral expectations of society. Violence against children in Madrassas reflects two scenarios: First, those who are abusing children at a place of worship are not aware of their responsibilities or neglecting them. Second, adults who are more responsible for protecting children and teaching the Islamic system of child protection, commenting on crimes. Prevention is a better and effective strategy. The Wifaq-ul-Madaris’ role is crucial in preventing violence against children and creating a safer environment. Notably, each sect has its own Wifaq-ul-Madaris; some sects have more than one Wifaq-ul-Madaris. Their role in ensuring child protection at the Madrassah level needs to be improved with a proper policy on child safeguarding in the Madrassah setting. It is important to note that 2.2 million children were studying in 17,738 registered madrassas in 2024. It is estimated that 30,000-45000 Madrassahs are functional in Pakistan. At least three to four million children are studying in Madrassas. Madrassas provide free education, accommodation, healthcare and a monthly allowance to students for personal expenses. Most poor families prefer sending their children to these institutions for education. In fact, Madrassahs are playing the role that was the responsibility of the state, free and compulsory education. Faith-inspired action for child protection issues is crucial, as child protection requires comprehensive collective efforts. The faith leaders from all religions and sects can bring a positive change as they have immense influence from policy to power corridors and hold special traditional powers. The people consult them frequently for different aspects of their daily life problems, like marriage, divorce and religious teachings (Islami Ahkam). The religious groups have a track record of showing public power, this means they have huge influence at gross root level and they know the art of influencing people’s minds, even controlling their actions to some extent. Shifting the direction of this power-packed group from engaging in conflicts to protecting children from violence is crucial on two grounds. Firstly, the majority of faith leaders, especially community-level faith leaders, lack exposure to diversity, accepting different viewpoints and opportunities for engaging in healthy dialogues other than religious or sectarian debates. Second, they lack the opportunity to connect with SCOs and government institutions for learning new concepts other than Islamic subjects, like UNCRC and the legal framework for child protection. These faith leaders can play a vital role in protecting children, ensuring child protection through awareness raising at the community level. If we invest in providing them with the opportunity to engage in dialogue and connect them with CSOs working on different social issues. Investing in marginalized Madrassah students and faith leaders will have a significant potential to influence their minds, remove misconceptions, change their thinking patterns, behaviour and practices. This can amplify the positive impact in communities. Experience shows positive results of engaging faith leaders in child protection; one example is interfaith child protection forums established by Islamic Relief Pakistan (IRP) in four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory. These forums played a vigorous role in raising awareness and preventing harmful practices against children. Through these forums, fatwas on child protection issues are issued by the diverse faith leaders. One can see it as a historical milestone for children’s rights. Redirecting faith influencers’ energies and activism is one of the approaches for enhancing collective and inclusive efforts to protect children from violence, abuse, neglect and harmful practices as well as enhancing the capacities of the faith leaders on the child rights framework. This can help in improving child protection at the community level. —The writer is contributing columnist. (naqvisw@gmail.com)