LAHORE: A Muslim cleric who has led anti-blasphemy rallies in Pakistan has been charged with sexually abusing a student at a religious school, police said on Thursday.
Police said charges were filed against Aziz-ur-Rehman after cellphone videos purporting to show the cleric forcing himself on the student went viral on social media.
The case has caused a stir in Pakistan, a mainly Muslim country, and outrage on social media, with many calling for a strict punishment for the cleric.
Rehman denied the accusation of sexual abuse in a video statement issued on social media, saying that he was drugged before the filming of the alleged abuse. He said this was part of a plot to throw him out of the seminary, the Jamia Manzoor-ul-Islamia.
Rehman, who is in his 60s and is a member of a prominent religious political party, has worked as a custodian of the seminary for several years.
The seminary said the cleric has been expelled from his position, and Wafaq-ul-Madaris, the body that oversees the religious schools system, said it has stripped him off his title, mufti, which means a religious scholar.
A police spokesperson said police could not locate the cleric when they visited the seminary after the student filed the sexual abuse complaint.
The student, who police said appeared to be in his early 20s, said in his complaint that he has given several video and audio recordings to help police investigate, adding he had gone into hiding because he had received death threats.
The police said the student had told them that the cleric had been abusing him for several years. He said he started filming the abuse after he got sick of it and sent the video clips of the abuse to the head of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris.
It was not clear how the video clips began circulating on social media.
Rehman has often been seen in photos and videos of anti-blasphemy rallies held in recent months to denounce publication of cartoons in France depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Over 2.2 million children attend religious seminaries in Pakistan. Sexual abuse cases are often hushed up, although some parents have recently been coming forward to file complaints.
A nongovernment organization called Sahil that works to stop child abuse reported 2,960 cases of child sex abuse in 2020 throughout the country, not just in seminaries.
Pakistani cleric charged with sexual abuse at religious school
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Pakistani cleric charged with sexual abuse at religious school
- The 60-something cleric has been expelled from his position at the seminary and stripped off his title of 'mufti'
- Police could not locate the cleric when they visited the religious school after the student filed the sexual abuse complaint
ADB, Pakistan sign over $300 million agreements to undertake climate resilience initiatives
- Pakistan ranks among nations most vulnerable to climate change and has seen erratic changes in weather patterns
- The projects in Sindh and Punjab will restore nature-based coastal defenses and enhance agricultural productivity
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed more than $300 million agreements to undertake two major climate resilience initiatives, Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID) said on Tuesday.
The projects include the Sindh Coastal Resilience Sector Project (SCRP), valued at Rs50.5 billion ($180.5 million), and the Punjab Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Agriculture Mechanization Project (PCRLCAMP), totaling Rs34.7 billion ($124 million).
Pakistan ranks among nations most vulnerable to climate change and has seen erratic changes in its weather patterns. In 2022, monsoon floods killed over 1,700 people, displaced another 33 million and caused over $30 billion losses, while another 1,037 people were killed in floods this year.
The South Asian country is ramping up climate resilience efforts, with support from the ADB and World Bank, and investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, particularly in vulnerable areas.
“Both sides expressed their commitment to effectively utilize the financing for successful and timely completion of the two initiatives,” the PID said in a statement.
The Sindh Coastal Resilience Project (SCRP) will promote integrated water resources and flood risk management, restore nature-based coastal defenses, and strengthen institutional and community capacity for strategic action planning, directly benefiting over 3.8 million people in Thatta, Sujawal, and Badin districts, according to ADB.
The Punjab project will enhance agricultural productivity and climate resilience across 30 districts, improving small farmers’ access to climate-smart machinery, introducing circular agriculture practices to reduce residue burning, establishing testing and training facilities, and empowering 15,000 women through skills development and livelihood diversification.
Earlier this month, the ADB also approved $381 million in financing for Pakistan’s Punjab province to modernize agriculture and strengthen education and health services, including concessional loans and grants for farm mechanization, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, and nursing sector reforms.
