Pakistan: 12-year-old boy’s body found hanging from tree in Sindh’s Matiari

A 12-year-old boy’s body was found hanging from a tree in the Matiari city of Pakistan’s Sindh, ARY News reported on Wednesday, quoting the police.

As per the details, the police found the body hanging from a tree near Ghalib Khyber – a suburb of Matiari.

Sources told ARY News that the boy was sexually assaulted before getting killed. Police and rescue workers reached the spot after receiving information and shifted the body to the hospital for post-mortem.

The 12-year-old’s family members said he left the house in the morning to cut wood.

Meanwhile, the police said it is premature to say anything about the sexual assault, adding that the confirmation will be done after a post-mortem, as per ARY News.

Recently, speakers at a training session on child abuse prevention in Pakistan revealed that twelve children are sexually abused in the country every day.

The session was organised by the German nonprofit Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), Dawn reported.

In addition, the speakers brought forth a statement from FNF Pakistan that stated 4,253 child abuse incidents were registered in 2022, a 30 per cent rise from 2021.

The session was informed that the state was responsible for promoting and protecting children's rights by teachers, social workers, attorneys, students, journalists, and representatives from several pertinent agencies.

According to FNF Pakistan's leader of the programme, Mohammad Anwar, signs of sexual abuse include terrifying behaviours including nightmares, sadness, abnormal fear, efforts to flee, and the emergence of sexual behaviour that is incredibly inappropriate for the child's age, reported Dawn.

He made the observation that 50 per cent of child abuse victims knew their abusers, who could belong to any class, caste, religion, or ethnicity. He noted that the perpetrator could be a male, woman, child, relative of the victim, or a total stranger.