Pakistani children aren't safe. That's not opinion or exaggeration. It's the bleak, burning truth we keep looking away from. They're ignored, exploited, brutalised and abandoned on every possible front.

But don't think for a second the numbers in this piece tell the whole story. For every reported case, dozens vanish into silence or into the child's grave.

The first blow comes from malnutrition. One in every two children under five is malnourished. That means emaciated bodies, arrested growth and immune systems too weak to fight off pneumonia and measles — diseases that have no business killing kids in the 21st century.

While malnutrition cripples the body, neglect chains the mind. An estimated 26 million children between the ages of 5 and 16 are out of school. That's not a gap. That's a canyon. And it's swallowing their futures whole.

Even worse than having no future is having no safety. No shield from the horrors that come next.

In 2024 alone, 1828 cases of child sexual abuse -........

© The Express Tribune