Quake kids sold to sex trade (Pakistani children pawned off)

The Australian ^ | October 24, 2005 | Dean Nelson

[NYer]

SIX-YEAR-OLD Aisha loves the orange blouse and jeans given to her by the kind woman who rescued her from the chaos of the Kashmir earthquake. She snuggles up to the woman, trying to forget the devastation of her village home and the deaths of her parents 16 days ago.

What Aisha does not know is that the woman, Kausar, is a prostitute who has bought her from relatives for 50,000 rupees ($1500) and plans to put her to work in the sex trade as soon as she reaches puberty.

Aisha is not alone. According to welfare agencies, many of the hundreds of girls and boys orphaned by the October 8 earthquake are being targeted by gangs intent on turning them into prostitutes or street beggars.

Other children are being sold for adoption by their parents in acts prompted by the destruction of homes and livelihoods.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's Government is so alarmed by the threat to vulnerable children that it has placed armed guards at all hospitals and ordered that no child is released to anyone until proof of kinship has been verified.

A ban on adoption was announced after hospitals and shelters were besieged by people offering to take Kashmiri orphans. Staff at a hospital in Islamabad say a number of people posing as relatives were caught trying to abduct children.

But Manan Rana, a child protection officer working for United Nations children's fund UNICEF in quake-hit Muzaffarabad, says government in Kashmir has collapsed and officials are unable to provide protection.

No official appears to have noticed when Aisha disappeared. After her home in a village called Arja was wrecked, she was taken to her grandmother's house in the nearby city of Bagh. Kausar, her new "carer", who claims the little girl is a distant relative, heard about her plight from family members.

"Her grandmother was too old to look after the girl. I went to Bagh on October 12 and I got her very cheap. A pimp from Lahore might have paid 100,000 rupees," she said.

"I will provide a good education for her. I would not like her to be a cheap, third-class prostitute. I do care about the girl. I will take good care of her, and then reap the benefit. I'm providing for her protection and I don't care what Allah thinks."

She will auction the girl's virginity when she reaches puberty and expects to get up to $4700 for that alone. "She could start work as soon as she has her first period," Kausar said.

If Aisha refuses to work as a prostitute, she will be sold to a pimp. Kausar would not consider any intervention by journalists.

[SittinYonder]

Kausar would not consider any intervention by journalists.

Interesting that they tried.

[buickmackane]

I'm always baffled by statements like the last sentence. Does this mean that Aisha was not for sale at any price to a journalist (think Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, who paid to rescue girls in a similar situation and then did follow-up stories on them)? Does it mean that this story ended without Kausar being reported to Pakistani authorities? It sort of reminds me of the coverage during Katrina when even the cameramen realized it was time to put down their equipment and help people get into rescue boats.

What's actually going to happen to this child??

[ClearCase_guy]

I can imagine their efforts:

"We're not allowed to actually spend money, you know, that would be slave trafficking and we'd lose our jobs ... but if we were to try and talk you into giving the girl to us, would you consider it? No? Okay, we'll just say 'Kausar would not consider any intervention by journalists' thanks for your time."

[The Red Zone]

I'd think that they wouldn't have much problem raising the money from their management for the $4700 price... can you imagine the feelgood story they'd get?

[2banana]

Islam - your condition is due to allah's choice - you deserve it.

[Americanexpat]

I see even after 1500 years in existance Muslims still see nothing wrong with slavery.

[Pyro7480]

There is a special place in hell for people who knowingly enhance and/or exploit the suffering of others.

[patent]

>>>Islam - your condition is due to allah's choice - you deserve it.

I don't think we can blame prostitution and child trafficking on Islam.

patent

[kx9088]

But as usual, they didn't try hard enough.

[308MBR]

Posted yesterday

[Mrs. Shawnlaw]

Didn't crap like this go on before the quake?

[buickmackane]

I'm with you 100% on that. The more I re-read this article, the angrier I get.

Last night, I was looking through some archived posts and found a thread about Bono. He happened to witness the stoning of a Western woman who dared to breastfeed her child in the presence of some Muslim women in Ethiopia. It was so offensive to the Muslim women that they actually stoned both the mother and the infant. I am a mother, but I have never felt comfortable around people who breastfeed in public -- but, for crying out loud, I wouldn't hurl rocks at the BABY!!!!!!

So now here's a woman who thinks the noblest thing she can do is raise this kid like a lamb about to be slaughtered and give her the ultimatum of either being a high-class hooker or being sold to a pimp.

And, nyah-nyah, Kausar doesn't care WHAT Allah thinks, either. So there.

Anyone got $4700 and a handgun to spare? This woman needs to see the afterlife ASAP.

[mel]

That is the most likely scenario.

[SmoothTalker]

The more I learn about muslim countries, the more sick to my stomach I become. Anyone who sells their child into slavery (particularly sex slavery) is sub human and deserves to rot in a special place in hell.

[corlorde]

It's a sad and sick world, and only getting sadder and sicker. People are people, the world over. Sex with kids is big business.

[corlorde]

I agree with you, and sick people in the US traffic is sex slaves as well. We import sex slaves from asia and the balkans, as well. As long as money is being made and demand is there, kids will suffer.

[pageonetoo]

The Christian Crusades should not have ended until the last Mohammadan was dead. It is past time to pick up the sword, and shield! How can Christians even listen to the Cindys?

Instead of allowing these things to happen around the world, America is trying to defeat a changing enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan. They all have the same face. They all share a common bond.

It is not racial profiling, It is Islamist profiling. They are committed to a thirteenth century doctrine of oppression and oligarchy. Theya re living in our cities, and building mosques/training centers, hidden in affluent suburbs.

Jesus spoke of turning the other cheek. But, he also turned over the tables in the temple. He drove the money changers out. He was justified in His actions.

We have this problem called "political corectness", these days. You can't call a spade a spade (no, I am not denigrating anyone).

Islam is a culture imposed on people, which denies them the opportunity for personal freedom. Imagine being a 12 year old girl, in Iran. Imagine living in Bagdhad right now.

It is no different than Communism, or any or despotic gum't. It seeks to place a power within the select, and little people are relegated to live as they deign fit. Mugabe commandeers a jet to fly to Rome, but the crew cabn't put together enough pocket change to pay for refueling the aircraft. They must all use an iron fist to maintain themselves.

America is at a critical period. The next election is going to be a barometer. The hurricanes and storms hitting our shores are nothing compared to what can happen, if the left wins, and their side helps the Islamofascits and Communist to continue their assaults, and win the war.

How can we read stories like this and sit, waiting for Jesus? Onward, Christian soldiers...

[SmoothTalker]

"It is no different than Communism, "

I think it is a worse threat than Communism. Communism could at least be fairly well contained. Russia was never looking to blow up our airliners, drop a dirty bomb in a major city or put poison in our water supply. The Cold war never turned hot, while this war has already begun. Islamism will doubtlessly take over Europe in the next fifty years. It's already taken over parts of Africa, and has destroyed most of the middle east. It is an ideology comprable to Nazism.

[Popman]

These nut jobs biggest beef is the crusades which occurred 800 years ago.

One day they will have the crusaders back on their door again. This time we will finish the job. I hope!!!