Lahore Darul Aman (Kashana) shelter home for women in trouble has recently been rocked by its Superintendent Afshan Latif's expose of the sexual exploitation of girls and young women at the hands of the Punjab government's political high-ups and bureaucrats. Her shocking revelation, instead of causing concern in the provincial government's ranks, elicited a strange and twisted response. First off, the starting block was Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat, who denied the allegation even before any investigation. Now Afshan Latif has stated that she is being pressurised by Social Welfare Director General, Afshan Kiran Imtiaz and the Chief Minister's Inspection Team to withdraw her allegation. On her refusal, she is being harassed and intimidated, including the police breaking down the door of the Darul Aman, ostensibly to teach Latif an 'unforgettable lesson', a video of the break-in having recently surfaced. Afshan Latif says this was done to erase the evidence of the shenanigans going on at the shelter home and that she fears being arrested. Not only that, the Punjab government has blocked budgetary allocations to the women's shelter, leaving the young women in its premises at the mercy of nature. Other unconfirmed reports on social media say Darul Aman has been taken over by the Punjab authorities and Afshan Latif has in fact been incarcerated, while the blame for whatever has been happening in Darul Aman is being shifted onto the shoulders of its management. Finally, only now has Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar woken up to the issue and directed the Punjab Social Welfare secretary to conduct a full inquiry and take strict, impartial action against those found responsible.

It boggles the mind how the PTI government in general, and now its Punjab government, is functioning. Instead of lauding the courageous outing of the scandal against powerful individuals by Superintendent Afshan Latif, the Punjab government has tried to cover up the alleged culpability of its ministers and government servants by a 'shoot the messenger' approach. However, thanks to the impossibility of hiding or distorting the facts surrounding such matters in the age of social media, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has been compelled to 'take notice' of the extremely embarrassing matter for a ruling party that never tires of touting its message of recreating the state of Madinah in Pakistan. Normally and logically, what has happened after the floodgates of counter-accusations against Superintendent Afshan Latif were opened is what should have taken place in the first instance. After all, no decent society can or should tolerate the sexual exploitation of young women who have sought shelter from their circumstances and troubles in the hope of leaving those behind within the theoretically secure walls of a Darul Aman. The whistle-blowing Superintendent Afshan Latif has been hard done by instead of being appreciated for her honesty, dedication and sense of responsibility towards her troubled young charges. The scandal and its handling so far have lowered the heads of every decent Pakistani who cares about his/her country in shame. Now the PTI Punjab government must ensure that not only is the inquiry into the affair thorough and objective (and not a witch-hunt against Afshan Latif), the perpetrators of sexual exploitation of these helpless young women burdened already with a troubled past and those facilitating such hanky-panky are brought to justice and appropriate punishments imposed. If the Punjab government fails in this duty, it is likely to find itself even more embarrassed. The prospect of being put on the mat for its dereliction of duty towards young women in shelter homes, being oblivious to their sexual exploitation, and initially mishandling the matter in a manner that casts suspicion on its intentions amongst the public and perhaps the courts should persuade Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and his government that it is in its own interests to see that justice is done in a transparent and credible fashion.