ISLAMABAD: In the context of the recent murder of a TikToker, Pakistan’s National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has issued an advisory, noting that women continue to face persistent threats such as image-based abuse and digital harassment in Pakistan. The advisory — titled Safe, Diligent, and Responsible Usage of Social Media — has painted a stark picture of the digital threat landscape in Pakistan, highlighting risks that affect millions particularly children, women, and elderly
Child Rights in Focus
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 to one UNICEF report, based on the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18, one in six women aged 20–24 in Pakistan was married before
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 and harsher criminal penalties. Religious parties and lobbies, on the other hand, claim that lower minimum age limits are consistent with Islamic law. Discussion
ISLAMABAD: A local court on 4th June approved a 14-day judicial remand for Omar Hayat, the prime suspect in the murder of social media influencer Sana Yousaf, to facilitate his identification parade. The accused was presented before Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Shehzad Gondal by the federal police. Tensions rose in the courtroom when the magistrate noticed the absence of both the prosecutor and the district public prosecutor. Expressing his displeasure, Magistrate Gondal said: “Where are the
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 by a man who could not handle rejection, is a terrifying reminder that Noor Mukadam was not a tragic anomaly, but a chilling precedent.
A law banning the marriage of children under eight years of age has been challenged in the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in Islamabad, arguing that it was against the Constitution as well as the tenets of Islam and should be abolished. The bill, which sought to protect the rights of children and eradicate marriages of children under the age of 18, was signed into law by the president on May 27 after sailing through both houses of
ISLAMABAD: The capital police on 3rd June announced the arrest of the suspect in the murder case of a social media influencer, who was gunned down at her house in G-13 on 2nd June. Addressing a hastily-called news conference, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said after the murder of 17-year-old Sana Yousuf, seven police teams were formed under the supervision of DIG Operations Jawad Tariq. These teams conducted a technical
ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: The government has dismantled an international child exploitation network operating out of a so-called gaming club in Muzaffarabad, where children aged six to 10 were lured, abused and filmed for the sake of selling their videos on the dark web, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on 3rd June. Speaking at a press conference alongside National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Director General Dr Waqaruddin Syed, the minister said
Islamabad: In a crucial collaboration addressing Pakistan’s childhood malnutrition crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) are providing life-saving treatment to 43,000 severely malnourished children under two years of age each year at 169 nutrition stabilization centres (NSCs) nationwide. With an exceptional recovery rate of over 98 percent—well above the global benchmark—the partnership is now set to expand, aiming to reach even more vulnerable children and their caregivers
FAISALABAD: A 13-year-old maid was allegedly tortured to death in Madina Town police limits. A police spokesman said that the tragic incident occurred in Eden Valley where 13-year-old maid Aliya was allegedly tortured to death by her employers. The CPO directed the SP Madina Town to investigate the matter and submit a report. SP Madina Town apprehended the accused, Zeeshan and his wife Samia, and further investigation is under way. Published in News Daily
MOHMAND: Local government representatives in Mohmand district have sounded alarm over what they describe as a ‘systematic collapse’ of women education in the region, citing the closure of 24 government girls’ schools in upper and lower Mohmand due to staff shortages and alleged corruption. Speaking at a news conference at the Mohmand Press Club on Monday, members of the village council chairmen committee, including Haji Naqab Shah, Dr Majeed, Akbar Khan, Shoaib, Hassan Sardar,
PESHAWAR: Speakers on 3rd June called upon parents to contact experts for the clubfoot deformities of children to enable them to grow like normal people as the problem is totally curable. “We have provided treatment to 5,071 children for congenital clubfoot deformity with the dedication, professionalism and compassionate spirit of the medical and technical teams working in the centre,” CEO of Paraplegic Centre Peshawar Dr Syed Mohammad Ilyas told a World Clubfoot Day function.