FROM SUFFERING TO SAFEGUARDS: REFRAMING THE LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS PARADIGMS OF CHILD ABUSE IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

This article offers a multidimensional investigation into child abuse in Pakistan, reconceptualizing it not merely as a legal or moral crisis, but as a systemic failure embedded in socio-political, digital, and theological structures. By integrating jurisprudential analysis, Islamic epistemology, and data-driven evidence, it proposes a transformative framework that transcends punitive responses and instead emphasizes preventative, rehabilitative, and theological recalibration. It concludes with innovative policy prescriptions, anchored in maqasid al-shariah and contemporary child rights discourse, for institutional reform.

Keywords: child abuse, legal anthropology, Shariah hermeneutics, cyber abuse, maqasid al-shariah, Pakistani jurisprudence, structural violence