KARACHI: A sessions court on 8th August sentenced a man to two years in prison for marrying an underage girl. After hearing the complainant counsel Daniyal Muhammad Hussain and the defence side, Judicial Magistrate (East) Noor Ahmed Chandio, found Azhar Ali guilty of marrying the teenage girl under Section 3 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013. The court observed that during the trial no substantial evidence was brought on record to exonerate
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI. Access to higher education shrinks amidst soaring merit thresholds Thousands of students across the Rawalpindi Division have been denied admission to leading government colleges despite having passed their matriculation examinations with first, second, or third division, due to increasingly high merit thresholds. At the same time, the cost of academic essentials for first-year students, including subject textbooks, notebooks, registers, practical notebooks, and general stationery, has risen sharply. Uniform prices have also soared, making
RAWALPINDI: A nine-year-old boy, who was abducted from the katchi abadi (informal settlement) area of Westridge Police jurisdiction in Rawalpindi in July, has been recovered from Chishtian, District Bahawalnagar. The rescue operation was made possible through a timely intervention, aided by the Zainab Alert App and swift action taken on local residents’ tip-off by the Bahawalnagar district police chief. One suspect involved in the abduction has been arrested. The boy, who had allegedly been
LAHORE: The Punjab government has extended the school summer vacations in the province because of an ongoing heatwave and health concerns for students. Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat announced that the schools will now reopen on September 1 instead of mid-August, as previously scheduled. “In view of the extreme weather conditions and rising temperatures, the summer break has been extended to ensure the health and safety of students and teachers,” he said in
The Supreme Court on 07-August-2025 disposed of a petition with regard to the kidnapping of a girl after the statement of the girl who deposed that she married of her free will. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi inquired the girl whether she married with her free will. The girl replied that she married with her free will and she was not kidnapped. She submitted that she converted to Islam out
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on 07-August-2025 termed Pakistan’s annual population growth rate of 2.55 percent an alarming trend requiring immediate and coordinated policy action at the national level to address the issue. The prime minister chaired a meeting at the PM Office to review the challenges posed by Pakistan’s rising population and to deliberate on effective strategies to manage it, an official news release said. “We need comprehensive planning to ensure our growing
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 FIR lodged, lists three adoption visa cases, noting that the centres named in the
ISLAMABAD: Although the government managed to secure parliamentary approval for an ordinance promulgated to satisfy Maulana Fazlur Rehman and a group of seminary boards, their registration may be hampered by the fact that the law only applies to the capital territory. During Wednesday’s proceedings, the National Assembly passed the Societies Registration (Amendment) Act 2025, allowing religious seminaries to get registered with the authority of their choice — the federal education ministry’s Directorate General of Religious Education (DGRE),
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Syed Mustafa Kamal has said breastfeeding is not just a personal or maternal responsibility but a national obligation that requires collective action from families, healthcare workers, employers, policymakers, and media. Terming breastfeeding “a lifeline and a child’s first vaccine”, the minister said promoting breastfeeding was an investment in Pakistan’s health, economy, and gender equality. In a statement issued in connection with World Breastfeeding Week,
A 40-year-old woman was shot dead allegedly by her husband during a domestic dispute in Lyari’s Mirza Adam Khan Road area on 05-August-2025. The Chakiwara police said that the victim, identified as Bakhtawar, wife of Nawab, was taken to the Civil Hospital Karachi, where doctors confirmed her death. The victim was the mother of seven children. The police stated that Nawab allegedly shot his wife during a heated argument over a phone call. The
ISLAMABAD: A new case of wild poliovirus has been confirmed in a five-month-old baby from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing Pakistan’s total number of polio cases to 19 so far this year, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said on 05-August-2025. Officials at NEOC have expressed serious concern over the ongoing transmission of poliovirus in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, describing the situation as “alarming” and warranting immediate and focused action. “Southern KP remains
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on 5th August sent the chairperson of a non-governmental organisation to prison on judicial remand in a child trafficking case. On Monday, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested Mubina Cassum Aboatwala, chairperson of the Health Oriented Preventive Education (HOPE) after a court dismissed her pre-arrest bail plea. The FIA claimed that it had received a complaint from US authorities regarding the suspect’s involvement in the “illegal business of trafficking