News Desk
A child’s home should be the first place of safety, not the scene of exploitation.
Yet the arrest of a man accused of producing and selling sexually abusive videos of his own young children has exposed one of the most disturbing dimensions of Pakistan’s child protection crisis: the possibility that the people entrusted with protecting children can themselves become their abusers.
The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) announced in October that it had dismantled an alleged international network involved in producing and trading child sexual abuse material.
Investigators said the suspect, who reportedly belonged to Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan, had been arrested in Islamabad.
According to the agency, the material involved his own children, aged around four to five, and was circulated through secret groups on Telegram, with payments made in cryptocurrency.
The investigation extended to Islamabad, Multan and parts of southern Punjab, with officials pursuing suspected associates and other network links.
The NCCIA described the case as the first reported instance in Pakistan in which a father was allegedly involved in producing and selling such material featuring his own children. That description remains the agency’s claim; the allegations must be established through the legal process.
The case is horrifying not simply because of the alleged conduct, but because it exposes how abuse within a family can become part of a wider commercial operation.
It also raises difficult questions about the reach of criminal networks, the vulnerability of children and the ability of institutions to detect abuse before it becomes another investigation.
The involvement of a parent strikes at the heart of the protection children are supposed to receive from their families. Young children depend on adults for their safety, care and everyday decisions. They cannot meaningfully consent to sexual exploitation, understand its consequences or independently escape an abusive environment.
In this case, investigators said the material was traded internationally through encrypted or private online groups, with cryptocurrency used for payments. The digital infrastructure allegedly connected the production of abusive material inside a household to a market extending beyond Pakistan’s borders.
The investigation also uncovered material allegedly depicting violence against animals, according to officials. Authorities said international cooperation helped them trace the network.
The full extent of the operation, the number of people involved and the circumstances surrounding the children’s abuse remained matters for investigators to establish.
The case was not the only development disclosed by the agency. Officials also reported the arrest of four suspects in a separate investigation into an alleged network that approached children through Instagram, persuaded them to produce indecent videos and then circulated the material for money.
Around 60 videos were reportedly recovered from a phone during that investigation.
Taken together, the cases point to different routes through which children can be exploited: abuse within a family, manipulation by people who approach them online and the commercial circulation of material created through that abuse.
Pakistan’s recorded figures show that child abuse is not confined to exceptional cases that briefly dominate the headlines.
- Sahil’s Cruel Numbers 2025 report documented 3,630 reported cases of child abuse and related offences across the country. The figure represented an 8 percent increase from 2024, when the organisation recorded 3,364 cases.
- The 2025 data were compiled from reports published in 81 newspapers covering the provinces, Islamabad Capital Territory, Gilgit-Baltistan and other areas.
The recorded offences included abduction, rape, attempted rape, sodomy, missing children and child marriage. - Sahil reported that more than nine cases were recorded each day on average. Girls accounted for 53 percent of the reported victims, while boys represented 47 percent.
These figures must be understood within the limits of the reporting method. Sahil’s data draw on newspaper coverage, rather than a complete national register of every incident. They describe documented cases, not the full prevalence of abuse across the country.
The distinction matters because children may remain silent for reasons including fear, shame, threats, family pressure or dependence on the person abusing them.
Families may also avoid reporting incidents because of social stigma or concerns about reputational damage. Where disclosure is difficult, and reporting systems are inaccessible, abuse can remain hidden from both law enforcement and public records.
The number of recorded cases is consequently an indication of the scale of the problem, not a reliable ceiling on its extent.
The digital dimension adds another layer to the crisis. Childlight’s Into the Light 2025 report calculated that Pakistan recorded 41.3 reports or notices relating to child sexual abuse material per 10,000 people in 2024. The comparable rates were 15.5 in India and 19.4 in Nepal.
These figures measure the availability or reporting of child sexual abuse material, using data from organisations including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and INHOPE.
They are not a count of individual children abused, confirmed criminal cases or proven offenders. Nevertheless, they provide a significant indication of the scale of material being reported in connection with Pakistan.
Online abuse also does not necessarily remain online. Digital platforms can be used to approach children, manipulate them into sharing images, threaten them with exposure or circulate material produced through physical abuse.
Once such content is distributed, it can be copied and recirculated, prolonging the violation long after the original incident.
The NCCIA’s recent investigations demonstrate how online platforms and cryptocurrency can feature in alleged commercial networks.
They also show why a case involving a child in one location may require investigators to trace people, communications and payments across several cities and countries.
The technology may change, but the underlying exploitation depends on the vulnerability of children and the willingness of perpetrators to profit from it.
Pakistan already has legal provisions that criminalise the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material.
Section 22 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, as amended in 2023, addresses the intentional production, distribution, transmission and possession of such material through information systems. The amended provision provides for imprisonment of 14 to 20 years and a fine of at least one million rupees.
The law also contains provisions targeting online grooming and the solicitation or enticement of minors for sexual abuse. These offences recognise that the exploitation of children can begin with digital contact and manipulation before progressing to further abuse.
But the existence of legal provisions does not, by itself, establish how effectively children are protected.
The relevant questions concern the identification of victims, the quality of investigations, the handling of digital evidence, the prosecution of suspects and the support available to children throughout legal proceedings.
The National Commission on the Rights of the Child’s State of Children in Pakistan 2025 report identified weaknesses in investigation, prosecution, evidence collection and case management, alongside delays in trials.
It cited a conviction rate of approximately 14 percent in Punjab in 2025 for the relevant child-rights cases covered by its data.
The report did not provide comparable conviction figures for every province, so the Punjab figure should not be treated as a national rate.
The findings nevertheless highlight a persistent problem: registering a case and arresting a suspect are not the same as securing justice. Investigations must establish the facts, courts must determine guilt, and children must not be left without support while proceedings unfold.
Child abuse inflicts damage that cannot be measured solely by the number of complaints registered or convictions secured.
Sexual exploitation can affect a child’s sense of safety, trust, self-worth and relationships long after the immediate abuse has ended. The circulation of abusive material can compound the harm by creating the possibility of repeated exposure and renewed victimisation.
When an alleged perpetrator is a parent or another trusted adult, the consequences can extend throughout a family.
A child may be left to navigate the emotional aftermath of abuse while also facing disbelief, stigma or pressure to remain silent.
The presence of relatives does not automatically guarantee protection, particularly when the person accused of abuse controls the household or has influence over the child’s daily life.
This is why child protection cannot be measured only by the severity of punishment written into law.
The treatment of victims, the quality of evidence gathering and the conduct of proceedings are also central to whether the justice system protects children in practice.
The case involving the father arrested in Islamabad remains an allegation under investigation, and the courts must determine the responsibility of the accused and any other suspects.
But the wider evidence is already troubling: thousands of child abuse cases are documented annually, substantial volumes of child sexual abuse material are reported online, and official assessments continue to identify weaknesses in the criminal justice process.
The most disturbing feature of the latest investigation is the alleged betrayal at the centre of it. A parent is expected to protect a child from harm. When that relationship is allegedly turned into a means of exploitation and profit, the consequences extend beyond one household to the institutions responsible for preventing and prosecuting abuse.
Pakistan’s child abuse crisis is not defined by a single arrest, a disturbing headline or one set of statistics. It is reflected in the children whose experiences enter official records and those whose suffering remains hidden.
