Pakistan, July 19 -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is confronting a silent emergency. In just the first six months of this year, the province recorded 402 child rights violations, already exceeding the 392 cases documented in all of 2024.

These include abductions, forced labour, sexual violence, corporal punishment, and even murder. Of these incidents, 286 involved boys and 116 girls. However, the problem is neither new nor provincial.

Nationwide, 3,364 cases of child abuse were reported in 2024, averaging nine cases per day. Punjab accounted for 78 per cent of these, Sindh 12 per cent, with the remainder from KP, Balochistan, and Islamabad. In 2023, Sahil recorded 4,213 cases of abuse; nearly half involving sexual violence, many affecting childre...