• Petitioners seek an effective age-verification mechanism for minors’ accounts • State urged to protect kids from cyberbullying, harassment and harmful online content ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has been approached seeking directions to the federal government to introduce legislation and a comprehensive regulatory framework to regulate social media use by children under the age of 16. The petition, filed through advocates Muhammad Jalal Haider and Yahya Farid Khawaja, seeks the introduction of an
Child Rights in Focus
HARIPUR: Police have arrested three teenage boys for ‘kidnapping’ a five-year-old girl, who went missing about 12 days ago from an urban locality here. One of the accused confessed before the magistrate that he and one of the four accomplices had raped the girl after abduction. He, however, said that he left the place of the crime after committing the rape and did not know about what happened to the girl afterwards. According to
KARACHI: Two patients, including a boy from Sanghar, died of rabies in as many days at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) while a woman from Hyderabad affected by the deadly infectious disease is currently under palliative care at the Indus Hospital, it emerged on August 21. With the latest cases, sources said, the death toll from the infectious disease has risen to 25. Thirteen deaths were reported at Indus Hospital — 12 at
CHAKWAL: An inquiry into the killing of nine-year-old Australian national Hania Ahmed has found a Crime Control Department (CCD) Punjab constable guilty, concluding that he opened indiscriminate fire on a car without prior permission from senior officers. The incident took place on the night of June 10-11 outside the CCD police station in Chakwal city. Adeel Ahmed, an Australian national, his wife and two minor children were being robbed by two armed men when the constable
KARACHI: A teenage son of a watchman at a government school in Soldier Bazaar was arrested on charges of attempting to sexually assault a minor girl. Soldier Bazaar SHO Waqar Azeem said the 17-year-old suspect was arrested for “attempting to sexually assault” an eight-year-old girl. The officer said police had registered an FIR against the suspect on a complaint lodged by the girl’s father under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 511 (attempt to
TOBA TEK SINGH: A nine-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and later found dead at Chak Allyanwala in Nankana Sahib district. According to Warburton police, the body of Riffat Fatima was recovered from a pit near her house. The girl’s father, Shahbazul Hassan, stated in his first information report registered under Sections 302 and 363 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that he woke up around 3 am on Monday and found his daughter missing
TOBA TEK SINGH: Tirkhani police, Faisalabad, arrested five people, including three women, for their alleged involvement in the sale and purchase of a newborn girl. Complainant ASI Zahid Bashir stated in his FIR, registered under Section 328 of the PPC and the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018, that he had learnt about the disappearance of a 15-day-0ld girl from Chak 50-GB. During the investigation, police allegedly found that the baby’s mother, Sadia
LAHORE: Women from different walks of life on Monday demanded that the government take urgent and effective measures against the rising incidence of crimes committed against women and children, besides voicing concerns over the lack of access to education and healthcare and the ‘discriminatory treatment’ meted out to people of south Punjab. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, PPP Lahore Secretary General Dr Ayesha Shaukat said that safety providers in police stations were
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economic debate rarely strays far from familiar territory. Inflation, public debt, exports, taxation and the energy crisis dominate political speeches and newspaper headlines alike. These are undoubtedly pressing concerns for a country grappling with recurring fiscal instability. Yet beneath these visible economic challenges lies another crisis – less visible but arguably more consequential – that receives only episodic attention. Nearly four in every ten Pakistani children are chronically malnourished. This is not
LOWER DIR: The increasing number of stray dogs in different parts of Lower Dir has emerged as a serious public safety and health concern, with residents urging authorities to introduce a comprehensive strategy to address the issue. Residents told Dawn on Sunday that packs of stray dogs were commonly seen near garbage dumps, hotels, markets and residential areas in Samar Bagh, Chakdara, Talash, Timergara, Maidan and other localities. The situation has become particularly worrying
TOBA TEK SINGH: The Faisalabad FIA has foiled an attempt to traffic a minor girl to Saudi Arabia on August 16 through a fake marriage certificate. An FIA official said that during an immigration check at the Faisalabad International Airport, a minor passenger was stopped and profiled. During the examination of her documents, her age was found to be 13 years, while her marriage certificate was found to be fake. He said the initial
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the secretary of culture department and the Sindh Board of Film Censors on a petition filed against blocking the screening of a film titled Ghost School in the province. A two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Muhammad Jaffer Raza also put the advocate general of Sindh on notice for Aug 21. Citing the province of Sindh through secretary of culture, tourism, antiquities &