In Pakistan prostitution is a punishable crime, the law does not directly states any punishment for prostitution, but it comes under adultery, in Pakistan adultery is a crime, and it comes under Hadood ordinance, any Sexual relations between two consenting adults is charged under the Hadood ordinance, which can be liable to different punishments in case of adultery and fornication.
Forms of prostitution
There are many types of prostitution: Male prostitution, Female prostitution, Child prostitution. Child prostitution is the most common forms of prostitution practiced in the country. There are so many case studies of the prostitution, which indicates that prostitution business is more common in low income families, being an under developed country Pakistan have very less job opportunities for even the educated sector of the society, and the rest of uneducated sector usually left with zero opportunities, due to the economic crisis many of the males and females adopt prostitution as profession, parents sent out their children for begging and their they see the brutality of out side world as people sexually victimize them, gradually the children become part of the sex industry, as they find it more easy to earn money in this way instead of begging people. Case study of a child Akhter says that he started this work in age of 12, now he is 18; he usually gets customers from bus stands, and from underdeveloped areas. It was quite evident from his physical appearance that he is not enjoying the full strength of flourishing growth, he is weak, pale and possessing nothing like a child, his looks are gestures and postures are like a grown up child before age due to the hardships faced in young age!
Female prostitution is widespread in almost all over the country; there are hundred of reasons, why a woman came into this profession. Most of the women willingly joined this job as a source of their family revenue, as being a house headed women, societal pressures, poor income, and economic crisis leads women to end up only with this alternative, forced prostitution is another familiar tactic to put women in prostitution field. In context of patriarchal societies it is quite easy to forcefully drag women to a profession where men wish to; patriarchy plays vital role in suppression of representation of positive aspects of women in the society, men changes their responsibilities at their convenience. Patriarchy allow men to get ride of the wife they do not want to keep, and remarried, in many cases to avoid the social and moral duties men disowned their own children, so in this situation women has to face double burden and have to become a super mom, and has to face all the pressures all alone. Abduction cases are on its peak, which mostly ends up on prostitution, people kidnap young women and blackmail them by forge videos, no one seems to be interested in stopping cyber crimes, due to which it’s an easy tool for the sex peddlers to trap their prey easily. As women are considered as a symbol of pride or families honor and should be pure to be able to marry a noble man and to have a respectable status in the society, and if any one comes to know any bad thing associated with that woman, the society never accept her in their sphere, she is treated as an epidemic disease for the other women of the family or for the community, Most of the women end up to brothel houses. A case study of Zulekha, says that she belongs to a very noble family, living in a small village; her father is an Imam of a Mosque (Islamic preacher) with one blind eye, her family has been facing very bad economic crises, she have eight siblings, she is the eldest, due the raising crises day by day, she decided to work and start searching jobs, but no ray of hope, one day her neighbor lady came to her and offer her a job in the other city, she agreed and travelled to other city with her, the lady took her to a brothel where she was raped and forcefully compel for prostitution, later on when she tried to escape, she got threats of kidnapping her younger sisters for the very same business, so she stop even thinking of escaping, to not to put her family in danger, her parents think that she is working in another city , as pimps use to send her parents little money on monthly basis. Charms of life are finished for me, said Zulekha.
Male prostitution is spreading like an epidemic in the country, the excuse the homosexual use to provide is that, when they are not satisfied with their wives or need some change, they go towards male sex, the boys who offer massage at nights, they are more prone to the abuse or some do it with their consent, most of the children who work at bus and truck stands they are being exploited by the workers, they earn 50-100 PKR a day, which is enough for one time food, later on they try to find out another client. One male prostitute says, that when I was 12 my uncle taken me to another city where he use to work, and he first molastated me, the experience was very painful, it was like the earth came apart for me, and I fainted, I had no choice except serving him, I was too young to escape from him and due to social norms of reluctances of discussing these topics, I couldn’t get rid of this curse. Later on I adopted it as profession because I find it easy way of livelihood, I never went back to my parents I feel embarrassed though they do not know what I do but from bottom of my heart I feel guilty to specially face my mother (she is some sacred entity for me ). I feel physically weak, I exhaust a lot, and I enjoy nothing as normal human beings, the male prostitutes on getting older, remain of no use, and their economic circumstances become worse for them, mostly they end up with drugs, and become badly edict of the most severe form of it, as they no longer posses any family (as if they go back to their family, due to the societal and moral pressures they could not keep them ), so they want to remain in state of unconsciousness so they could not feel and sense any thing and quietly die. States do not bother any liability for the welfare of the prostitutes, STD ratio spreads rapidly among them.
Suggestions
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Awareness raising programs about STDs and health relater issues should be designed.
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Free medication should be ensured,
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Forced prostitution should be prevented through strict laws in the country.
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Free education for the children’s should be provided by the state.
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Alternative livelihoods should be provided to them, who ever are willing for it.
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State should ensure the safety of the prostitutes (as people treated them worse then dogs, as murder cases are very common).