Alternative Care

Trading Babies

CHILD trafficking is the most repellant avatar of human sale. Not new to Pakistan, it reduces minors to easy commodities. In this context, the FIA’s arrest of Dr Mubina Agboatwala, who heads the NGO HOPE, following complaints by US consulate authorities about her alleged role in the “illegal business of trafficking minors” is unsettling news. The complaint, according to the…

Wounded Childhood

PAKISTAN is unkind to its children. The NCRC’s State of Children in Pakistan Report 2024 scans the grim circumstances our young are forced to navigate, and spells out the systemic apathy towards their safety, health and progress. It asserts that the country faces tremendous difficulties in safeguarding the rights of…

Senators Seek Proposals On Bills Regarding Rights Of Children, Special Persons

ISLAMABAD: Senate’s human rights body on April 29 set a 30-day deadline…

Zamung Kor, Panagahs To Get Budget Boost

Gandapur approves Zamung Kor expansion, including a separate campus for girls in…

For Distressed Children, Railway Stations Become a Refuge

LAHORE: Railway stations across Pakistan are increasingly becoming refuge points for children fleeing troubled homes, as poverty, domestic tensions, corporal punishment, and the influence of social media push minors onto the streets. According to official data shared by Pakistan Railways Police, 658 children, including 413 boys and 245 girls, were…

Court Orders Sweeping Reforms in Orphanages

ABBOTTABAD: The Abbottabad Bench of the Peshawar High Court has disposed of a writ petition challenging the election of the Governing Body of Idara Tadreesul Quran orphanage Abbottabad, while issuing an extensive set of binding directives aimed at strengthening oversight, transparency and child welfare standards in orphanages across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. A…

Girl Converted to Islam sent to Darul Aman

SUKKUR: Police produced a Hindu girl, who converted to Islam and contracted free-will marriage, before a court on January 21 in Jacobabad. The judge recorded statements of the girl and her parents and ordered that the girl be sent to Darul Aman (a women’s shelter) for a few days. Outside…

Child Protection Effort Unravels as Father Takes Children Back to Footpath

KARACHI: A man who took his three children living in a shelter home, has brought them back to footpath. A 14-year-old Aisha is among the three children. The Sindh Child Protection Authority, in an attempt to protect the children against seasonal hardships and social vulnerabilities, had taken the custody of…

Crackdown on Beggars, Addicts

TOBA TEK SINGH: The police have initiated a crackdown against professional beggars and drug addicts across the Faisalabad region aimed at reducing traffic disruption, crime and improving the safety of citizens. A press release issued by the office of RPO Sohail Akhtar Sukhera on Saturday said that more than 2,800…

Mera Pyara Reunites 200 Kids Daily

LAHORE: Evolving as a local alternative to the United States ‘Amber Alert’ system to trace missing kids, Punjab government’s Mera Pyara initiative is reuniting at least 200 children per day with their families across the province, according to official data. Since its launch on July 26 last year, the Punjab…

Court Orders Handover of 17 Baloch Children To Parents

SAHIWAL: The additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) and presiding officer of the Child Protection Court, Sahiwal, has directed the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) to hand over custody of 17 minor children to their parents/guardians following due verification and recognition of the petitioners by the child. The judge…

Baloch Kids to be Produced Before Court

SAHIWAL: As the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau is set to produce 18 children recovered from an orphanage in Chichawatni city at a local court on Monday (29 Sep), certain questions remain unanswered regarding their origin and circumstances as 17 of them belong to Balochistan. They are under 8-10 age…

Court Hands Over 18 Kids Recovered From Orphanage to CPWB

SAHIWAL: Muhammad Tariq, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Child Protection Court, Sahiwal, formally handed over the custody of the 18 minor children, 17 of them from Balochistan, who were recovered from an orphanage to the district office of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) here on September 24. The…

Physical Abuse: CPB Recovers 18 Kids in Raid on Sahiwal ‘Orphanage’

SAHIWAL: On the order of an additional sessions judge, a team of the district chapter of the Child Protection Bureau (CPB) raided an orphanage at Chichawatni on September 23 , recovering 18 children, 17 of them from Balochistan, who were allegedly being tortured by their teachers and caretakers. The incident…