ALEEHA IMRAN'S ORDEAL HIGHLIGHTS OUR CULTURE OF VIOLENCE.

LAHORE -- On January 16, Aleeha Imran, a student of the Scarsdale American International School in Lahore, was beaten mercilessly by four other girls in her school. One of them sat on Aleeha, punching her, while another kicked her all over her body, including her face. The attack lasted about 40 minutes and at the end the child had to be hospitalised.

The violence was stunning, not only in the physical aspect of it, but also its psychological aspect. It was chilling to see that the girls who were beating up the eighth-grader Aleeha had not an iota of restraint when it came to crossing all lines, and how relentlessly they continued to assault their victim. Worst perhaps was the fact that the entire episode was being filmed by a male student - or perhaps more students- and all the while those filming the attack laughed while it took place. The entire episode happened in broad daylight in front of several witnesses, but not a single person rushed to help the girl, instead they enjoyed the spectacle.

The case has left several unanswered questions and many more disturbing thoughts for us to chew over. Where is the youth of the country headed, people ask. After the video circulated online, most members of society have been upset to see the level of violence exhibited by young people.

According to Aleeha's father Imran Younus, even while his daughter was in hospital, his family was facing threats from the parents of the accused girls.

'Instead of asking about her condition, and lending some sympathy to our child,' says Younus, 'we were getting intimidating calls threatening us not to leave the house and not to make any complaints.

A regrettable takeaway from this episode is how the tendency to violence among the youth is learned behaviour. 'The parents of these children are exactly the same as they are,' the victim's father points out.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), one of Aleeha's fellow students was involved in bad habits - drugs and bad company. At some point, Aleeha resisted the student's attempts to include her, and even complained about her doing drugs in school. So the student, her sister and two other girls attacked Aleeha, dragged her to the cafeteria in the basement of the school and badly beat her up .

Lahore-based child rights activist Nabila Feroze Bhatti puts the blame squarely on society's shoulders, and says the violence in children comes from the violence prevalent in society.

'The elements of violence and abuse...

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