Zara, whose name has been changed by AFP for safety reasons, is one of an estimated 1.5 million children in Pakistan who experienced online sexual abuse in one year, according to a report published by the UN children’s agency this month.

“We started chatting while playing an online game, and he began acting like a friend. Later, he wanted to meet and, after, started asking me for nudes,” 17-year-old Shah said.

“When I refused, he threatened to find my family online and tell them that we had been talking,” she added.

According to the Unicef report, around 85 per cent of perpetrators were known to the victims, aged between 12 and 17.

“The abuse may start with a friendly conversation, a gaming interaction, a promise of gifts, money or romance,” Daniel Kardefelt, lead author of the global Unicef report, told AFP.

“Perpetrators may spend months building trust using information that they find on social media,” Kardefelt said.

In Muslim-majority Pakistan, 71pc of victims did not tell anyone, according to the Unicef report, while no child surveyed reported the abuse through formal channels — including police, helplines or social workers.

Their silence was mostly because of stigma, shame and fears over how their families or society may react.

“Around 44pc of reported abuse was entirely online, with Snapchat and WhatsApp among the most common settings,” said Mehek Naeem, director of Pahchaan, a children’s rights organisation based in Lahore.

Girls can face heightened risks of sexual extortion, which can lead to restrictions on their mobility or withdrawal from school.

For Zara, the threat of being exposed to her family was enough to keep her silent.

“I could have been stopped from going to school or leaving the house altogether,” she said.

“Staying quiet felt like the better option than speaking up. But anxiety kills me every day.”

Loopholes, ‘no implementation’

With around 74pc of children aged 12 to 17 in Pakistan estimated by Unicef to be internet users, concerns over online safety are growing as their access to digital platforms expands.

Echoing other policies around the world, the provincial government in Punjab this month passed a resolution to bar children under 16 from using social media.

However, it has faced opposition.

“I disagree with the ban,” said Usama Khilji, a digital rights activist.

“It will be a challenge to implement, and children can circumvent the ban through VPNs. Children have the right of freedom of expression, and a ban takes that away,” he said.

Pakistan has a legal framework addressing tech-facilitated offences against children, but “there is no implementation”, said Tahira Afrasiyab, a spokesperson for non-profit organisation Muslim Hands.

And, according to experts, there are loopholes in existing laws.

Human rights lawyer Salman Afridi said this issue shows how “economic vulnerability can be weaponised” for amounts as small as Rs10,000 in exchange for the production of sexual content.

“What we are seeing is the use of technology to facilitate an entire chain of grooming, inducement, coercion, blackmail, production, distribution and commercialisation,” he said.

“There is a strong basis for describing this as a commercial ecosystem of exploitation,” Afridi added.

For Zara and many others like her, the consequences of an encounter that began with an online game remain difficult to escape.

“I was, and am, scared,” she said. “I live in fear.”

He made the statement while addressing a press briefing. Naqvi’s remarks come as the party prepares for a nationwide protest and march towards Islamabad on Sept 27 to press for the release of its incarcerated founder, Imran Khan.

“We have clearly told them (PTI) that they can never achieve anything through such drama, and I will say again that there is still time; they should not go into this situation,” he said, advising the party to “not enter a dead-end street”.

Naqvi vowed the government will not “leave any loopholes” in its response if the party went ahead with the protest.

The interior minister held that PTI’s majority leadership was not in favour of the march. However, “if they do, then we have the Islamabad High Court (IHC) order, and the government will ensure its implementation”.

He appealed to PTI to adopt a different approach.

“Do not harm yourself and your workers,” he said.

On being asked if the government had any “long-term solution” to PTI’s frequent protest calls, the interior minister said, “I believe this time we will find a permanent solution; we will not leave it halfway”.

Asked whether PTI’s basic demand was to shift Imran Khan to a hospital, what the issue was, and why he had not been shifted to one, Naqvi said the party’s demand was for Imran to undergo a medical check-up at a hospital.

“There is no need for us to tell them that if this is their demand, then it may already have been fulfilled, as the check-up may have taken place at a hospital during the night,” he said.

“As for the treatment that is prescribed under the law, we will do everything according to the law. But we will not do it simply because they are demanding it,” the interior minister added.

More to follow.

The election, held to elect members in all seats of the lower house State Duma, is the first since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

No party opposed to the war was allowed to run, with Russia’s Supreme Court removing the anti-war Yabloko party off the ballot weeks before the vote.

Voting also took place in Ukrainian territories occupied and annexed by Russia.

Turnout could offer a barometer of public opinion towards Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

According to results reported by Russian news agencies after just over 71 per cent of ballots were counted, United Russia took 57.5pc of the vote.

The Communist Party and LDPR nationalists trailed behind on 14 and 8.7pc respectively.

The ruling party is on course to retain its two-thirds majority of the 450 seats in the State Duma, allowing it to amend the constitution, according to projections by the state agency TASS.

The first official results and turnout will be expected on Monday morning.

Ukraine fired waves of drones at Moscow and the surrounding region on the final day of voting on Sunday, killing two people and setting an oil refinery ablaze, officials said.

Russia vowed it would “intensify” its strikes on Kyiv in response, with the defence ministry accusing Ukraine of attempting to “disrupt the democratic will of Russian citizens”.

An exit poll published by a state-run pollster showed United Russia on course to win 49.4pc of the vote, close to the same amount it achieved in the previous election.

“In response to the Kyiv regime’s attacks on civilian targets within Russia, the Russian army will continue and intensify its high accuracy strikes against military targets in Kyiv,” the Russian defence ministry said.

Wave of Ukrainian drones

The Ukrainian attack was the largest on Moscow since the start of the war and involved around 1,600 drones, 450 of which were aimed directly at the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Images showed a gaping hole in a multi-storey apartment building on the outskirts of the capital, while another showed black smoke billowing from what appeared to be an oil refinery.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the attacks, saying “our long-range responses had a very significant impact in the Moscow region last night”.

While diplomatic efforts to end the war have not prevented mutual strikes from escalating in recent months, Zelensky spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump, who in recent days has urged Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries.

The pair are expected to meet in New York in the coming days.

At least two people were killed — a 44-year-old woman and an elderly man — in two separate locations, Moscow regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said.

A fire triggered by a drone crashing into a 21-storey building also led to 400 people being evacuated, Vorobyov added.

Ukraine has targeted Russian infrastructure with drones throughout the war, in retaliation for Russian bombardment of its own towns and cities.

Yabloko — a liberal party that had called for an end to the fighting — was barred from running its federal list by Russia’s Supreme Court, although its candidates remained on the ballot in some single-mandate constituencies.

Putin had urged Russians to take part, casting the vote as a show of support for Moscow’s troops and an “answer to those who want to weaken Russia”.

The Kremlin’s chief political opponents have been driven into exile, while Putin’s main rival, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison in 2024.

Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya called on anti-war Russians to collectively cast their ballots at noon on Sunday, a tactic that drew crowds in the 2024 presidential election.

In Berlin and London, AFP reporters saw dozens of opposition supporters gathered outside Russian embassy buildings in protest at the vote.

Cyberattacks

As voting entered a final day, Russia’s electoral chief said there had been a wave of cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure.

Ella Pamfilova, chair of Russia’s Central Election Commission, did not say who was responsible.

The attacks appeared to have been carried out by “highly professional, well-coordinated groups using artificial intelligence tools,” she said.

“Over the past period, more than 1,000 waves of DDoS attacks have been recorded against infrastructure in Russia that is specifically involved in the electoral process,” Pamfilova was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks involve overwhelming a system with internet traffic so that it is unable to function normally.

She warned on Saturday that saboteurs had also severed communication lines in Russia’s far east, in an apparent attempt to frustrate the voting.

The development follows the detention of Imran’s other sister, Aleema Khan, after Lahore’s deputy commissioner (DC) ordered her detention or arrest for 30 days on Sunday.

The detention has come amid reports of a crackdown on the PTI ahead of its September 27 countrywide protest and march to Islamabad, which the party has called to demand Imran’s release from jail and mobilise people for the supremacy of the Constitution.

In an order dated Sept 20, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the Lahore DC Office ordered that Noreen and Uzma be detained for 30 days under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, stating that the two were “prejudicial to the public safety and maintenance of public order”.

The MPO ordinance allows the authorities to order detention and restrict judicial review of such orders.

The two will remain in custody under the superintendent, Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, it said.

The order stated that the two were involved in the May 9 protest and “motivated the workers to damage public and government property”.

“Moreover, they are again mobilising the workers through social media and public meetings to create a law and order situation, raising/chanting objectionable slogans amongst the general public against the government/institution in order to provoke and incite them,” the order read.

“Accordingly, multiple cases including 96/23 PS Race Course were registered,” it said, stating that Uzma and Noreen were “potential dangers to public peace and tranquillity”.

“Such activists will give rise to a situation prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order, if left unchecked.”

The decision was taken in a meeting held on Sunday, under the chairmanship of the Lahore DC Muhammad Ali Ijaz, where the issue was discussed and members “endorsed” the “evidence” presented by the police.

The order stated that the Lahore DC was convinced that Uzma and Noreen’s presence “at any public place will pose a grave threat to the public safety and will likely cause breach of public peace and public order”.

In a post on X in the early hours of Monday, the party’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram had accused Punjab police of “arresting both sisters of Imran, along with their children and the sons of Aleema Khan”.

Akram claimed that the individuals had “been placed in an armoured vehicle and are being taken to an unknown location”.

PTI lawyer Awais Younas Chaudhry had confirmed to Dawn that all three of Imran’s sisters had been arrested.

“Earlier Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan were confined to their house, but on Monday morning they were taken to an unknown place,” he claimed.

PTI, in a post on X, condemned the alleged arrest, calling it a “blatant abuse of authority, a violation of fundamental rights, and an act of political victimisation”.

“Such conduct is illegal, unconstitutional, and is condemned in the strongest possible terms,” the party said.

Meanwhile, Imran’s son Kasim Khan, in a post on X, alleged that Uzma and Noreen had been “abducted”.

“This is a disgrace,” Kasim wrote, claiming that authorities had “broken into my aunties and cousins houses and forced them into vehicles with no explanation”.

“No reasons for arrest have been stated. No news has been released as to where they have been taken,” he wrote.

Speaking to Dawn, former member of the Punjab Assembly Seemabia Tahir said, “It was unfortunate that the family members [..] were facing such brutality”.

She expressed hope that following this, “people will surely come out of their houses on Sept 27”.

Aleema’s detention

On Sunday, Aleema was detained under similar orders.

The September 20 order, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said DC Ijaz had ordered the detention or arrest of Aleema and a man named Muhammad Ameer under the Punjab MPO.

The MPO ordinance allows the authorities to order detention and restrict judicial review of such orders.

Following the arrest, Aleema’s sister Noreen addressed a press conference in Lahore, flanked by her sister’s counsel, Advocate Mudassir Umar.

Noreen claimed Aleema was “picked up” along with her driver after she left her residence on Saturday, and they later learnt that Aleema’s vehicle was parked at a police station. Meanwhile, the lawyer said they had yet to receive official confirmation of her arrest.

Police sources had confirmed to Dawn on Sunday that Aleema was taken to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.

Detentions ahead of Sept 27 protest

The detentions come after a string of reported actions against the PTI in Punjab ahead of its September 27 protest.

On Sunday, Sahiwal police arrested Asad Khan Baloch, former mayor of the municipal corporation and ex-ticket holder for PTI, along with the party’s city president in Sahiwal, Muhammad Shahid Chohan.

PTI also claimed that MNAs Sanaullah Mastikhel, Ahsan Jamal Khan and Mian Ghous were taken into custody, according to the party’s information secretary.

District authorities had also issued preventive detention orders against dozens of PTI workers under MPO a week ago, including 31 in one Punjab notification and a further 14 in Toba Tek Singh.

Similar reports have come from Islamabad, where the PTI plans to march on the protest day.

However, the government has vowed to stop the march, and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled that no political party or its leadership has the “lawful right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas and buildings in Islamabad”.