Perspective - Page 19

Insights From the 2023 Census Report

The 2023 Census conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released its complete report in July 2024 indicates that the total population of Pakistan is 240 million out of which the population of children under 18 is 112 Million (47% of the total population). Children Population (under 18) Population under 18 Total Male Female Transgender Pakistan 112,472,700 58,099,978 54,370,121 2,601…

Permitted age for employment of children as domestic workers

Do you know what the minimum age is for children in the different provinces of Pakistan to be employed as domestic workers? Child labour is a provincial subject in Pakistan after the 18th Constitutional Amendment in 2010. The 18th Constitutional Amendment devolved the issue of labour and employment to the…

Juvenile Offenders in Punjab

The total number of convicted and undertrial juveniles imprisoned in various borstal…

Transport For Schooling

A JUDGE at the Lahore High Court recently ordered that schools should arrange for…

Horror Of Child Pornography

Another horrifying incident has come out of the hotbed of child exploitation, Muzaffargarh. A young boy, sent to collect his brother’s unpaid wages, was sexually assaulted and filmed by a man his family once relied on for employment. This case, shocking as it is, comes on the heels of an…

Harder Life For Children

“I expect my children will have a better life than I had, but they will also have to work much harder.” Such is the view of Junaid, an executive at a pharmaceutical company, and an interviewee in our research on parental expectations. Upon further probing, Junaid said, “I have more…

It Is Time To Raise Better Sons

In Pakistan, we have witnessed several episodes of violence, harassment, repression and even murder of several women across the various layers of our economic strata. From the affluent Noor Mukaddam to the totally unknown little Zainab, we have seen countless girls and women of all age groups suffer at the…

The Age Of Consent And The Borders Of Belief

ICT Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2025 marks a pivotal step toward a safer, progressive Pakistan KARACHI. Child rights organisations and advocates, along with concerned citizens, have warmly welcomed the passage of recent legislation on child marriages, describing it as a landmark step toward protecting the rights and well-being of children.…

STOLEN CHILDHOODS, SILENT TEARS

In the quiet courtyards of rural Pakistan, a 13-year-old girl is pulled from her school desk and handed a bridal dress. Her childhood ends not with celebration, but with chores, early pregnancy, and a silence enforced by custom. This is not a regional anomaly; it is a national emergency. According…

Criminalising Child Marriage

CHILD marriage persists in Pakistan for many reasons, and ending the practice requires measures that are sensitive to the problem’s complexity. Debates on child marriage tend to reduce this complexity to two opposing legal positions. Proponents of gender equality and child welfare support higher minimum age limits for child marriage…

Brutality Behind Rejections

The Islamabad IG has rightly called this a case of ‘repeated rejections’. Another young woman has been silenced, not by society’s disapproval of her ambitions, but by its refusal to protect her from male entitlement and rage. The brutal murder of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf in Islamabad, allegedly…

Nutritional Status Of Children Under-five (National, Provincial)

Malnutritional Indicators of Children Under Five (%) Indicator Total Boys Girls Stunting 40 40.9 39.4 Wasting 17.7 18.4 17 Underweight 29 29.3 28.4 Overweight 9.5 9.7 9.2 Source: NNS 2018 Provincial/Regional Breakdown of Malnutrition Indicators (%) Region Stunting Wasting Underweight Overweight ICT 32.6 12.1 19.2 5.8 Balochistan 46.6…

Save The Girls

SOME traditions that hinder individual progress are a heavy cross for society to bear. In Pakistan’s deeply patriarchal environment, where a female child’s agency is determined by her biological age, President Asif Zardari’s assent to the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025, despite resistance from the Council of…

Measles Outbreak

Measles is not a new disease. Nor is its prevention a mystery. The future of any nation rests in the hands of its children — a truth so self-evident, it should never need repeating. Yet in Pakistan, and particularly in Sindh, we are reminded all too often that the most basic…