In the dim backrooms of a beauty parlour in Hujra Shah Muqeem, Okara, two little girls—just 14 and 15 years old—were not learning a trade, not building a future. They were being repeatedly raped, blackmailed, and betrayed by men who shared their home. Ramesh and Ali Raza, the nephews of the parlour owner’s husband, turned their shared roof into a cage of trauma. And Pakistan—its society, its system, its so-called moral guardians—stood by, blind and indifferent.
The complaint came not from an act of conscience, but from a family dispute. Only then did Sidra, the parlour owner, go to the police. And yet, by then, the damage was done. Medical reports confirmed what these girls lived through: sustained sexual abuse within the last 72 hours. But the scars run deeper. One of the girls had been working there for five years. The other, for eight. They were children, reduced to tools, trapped in a cycle of work, exploitation, and silence.
How could this happen? The answer lies in Pakistan’s rotting soul—where child labour is shrugged off, where rape is covered up, and where poverty is weaponized to silence victims. Where was the outrage? Where were the neighbours, the community elders, and the institutions that claim to defend children? They all failed. Just like they always do.
And then, Gujrat. A newlywed woman, abducted in daylight, raped by five men like she was nothing. Thrown onto the street, robbed not just of her money, but of her body, her dignity, her peace. This, too, is in Pakistan—a country where women walk with fear stitched into their steps, where justice comes only if the screams are loud enough to shame the silence.
These are not exceptions. These are the rules. This is Pakistan today—a country where being a woman or a child is a risk, where predators walk with confidence, and victims are either silenced or blamed.
The law exists, yes. FIRs are filed. But what about the lives shattered before those papers are stamped? What about the years of abuse that went unnoticed? What about the girls who will never know safety, the women who will never trust again?
There is no hiding from this truth: Pakistan has failed its daughters. Repeatedly. Tragically. Publicly. It continues to uphold a culture where girls are used and then discarded. Where men can rape and still claim “consent.” Where justice comes too late, if at all.