KARACHI: Authorities in Karachi said on Saturday they had confirmed sexual violence against at least three of four minor girls examined after the arrest of a man accused of abusing nearly 100 children over nine years.
The case surfaced earlier this week when one of the alleged victims stole a USB drive from the suspect and took it to a shop to copy a movie. The shopkeeper found hundreds of videos of child abuse on the device and alerted police.
Shabbir Ahmed, a juice vendor originally from Abbottabad, was arrested on Thursday, and investigators said they had recovered more than 400 clips showing assaults on over 100 girls aged between five and 12, some targeted repeatedly over several years.
“Today, four victim girls, one aged seven, two aged ten and one aged 12, were brought in for examination,” Karachi police surgeon Dr. Summaiya Syed told Arab News. “Findings in three of them are suggestive of sexual violence, and medicolegal documentation has been completed.”
Police said on Friday Ahmed began abusing children in 2016, luring them with small amounts of money and assaulting them inside his shuttered shop in the city’s Qayyumabad neighborhood.
A diary recovered from the suspect contained names and records of more than 85 victims, noting their ethnicity. The most recent assault is believed to have taken place on Sept. 4.
The suspect has now been charged under Section 376(3) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carries the death penalty or life imprisonment for raping a minor. A judicial magistrate has granted police five-day remand for interrogation.
At least five families have lodged formal complaints so far, and more are expected as medical examinations continue, police said.
Child sexual abuse remains widespread in Pakistan. Sahil, a local NGO, recorded 3,364 incidents in 2024, while the Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO) documented 5,398 cases between 2019 and 2023.
One of the country’s most notorious cases emerged in Kasur, Punjab province, where between 2006 and 2015 hundreds of videos of mostly male children being abused were circulated illegally, sparking nationwide outrage.
