ISLAMABAD: A 13-year-old Pakistani boy rescued by the army has described systematic sexual abuse at multiple terrorist-controlled facilities in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, security sources said.
The boy, identified only as Ikramullah, was abducted from a petrol pump in his village of Sangeri by two operatives of Fitna ul Khawarij, named in his testimony as Selaab and Abasin, and subsequently moved through at least four mosque-based facilities used by the group as operational centers in North Waziristan district, in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities use the term "Khawarij,” rooted in early Islamic history, to describe the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied militant networks, casting them as outlaws who reject legitimate authority and deliberately target civilians and state institutions.
In his own words, Ikramullah described what he endured:
"In Manzarkhel, the mosque was made into a center. There were three or four other boys there… some younger than me and some older than me.”
"During the day, they used to make us bring food from people's homes, and used to rape me at night,” he said. "Fifteen of them were Afghans and some were from my village and Miranshah."
Ikramullah said he was moved from Manzarkhel, a small settlement in North Waziristan, approximately 15 kilometres from the Afghan border, to a facility at Tapi, then back to Manzarkhel, before being taken to Khulziai and finally to Palangzai where the abuse continued at each location.
"There was a mosque in Khulziai which was called the Spain mosque. After that, they took me to Palangzai and raped me there on the third day. In Palangzai, the mosque was also made into a center," he said.
The Pakistan Army launched an operation in Palangzai during which Ikramullah was wounded. He was evacuated, treated, and subsequently gave his account to authorities.
"The army bandaged my wounds. I spent two days there and they gave me good food," he said.
Social experts and child protection advocates condemned the disclosures, describing the use of mosques to carry out sexual crimes against children as a profound desecration of sacred spaces and a defining mark of the group's ideological bankruptcy.
"A fitna that massacres innocent civilians and sexually exploits children deserves no leniency whatsoever," experts said.
Security sources said the testimony further exposes the true nature of Fitna ul Khawarij, whose fighters, the majority of them Afghan nationals according to the victim, have long used Pakistan's tribal belt along the Afghan border as an operational base. The group is designated a terrorist organisation by the Pakistani state.
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