ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on 29th May launched a video campaign featuring its National Ambassador for Child Rights, actor Saba Qamar, to raise awareness about the urgent need to end child marriage in Pakistan. The video urges communities to speak out against the practice, highlights its impact on young girls, and calls for unified action to protect children and empower girls across the country. “Why should any child in Pakistan be
Child Rights in Focus
LAHORE: A powerful storm accompanied by torrential rains and lightning wreaked havoc across parts of Punjab on 29-May-2025, leaving one child dead and eight others injured in multiple incidents. In Bahadur village, Attock, a child lost life after a lightning bolt struck the area. The same strike also left five other children with burn injuries. Locals reported that the children were playing outdoors when lightning struck. Emergency responders rushed to the scene and shifted
Despite a desperate overnight search by their families, the children remained untraceable until 7:30am the next day HAFIZABAD: The bodies of two young cousins were discovered in a locked metal trunk inside a relative’s home. Eight-year-old Ahmed Ali and seven-year-old Arshman Ali went missing on the evening of May 28 after leaving home to play. Despite a desperate overnight search by their families, the children remained untraceable until 7:30am the next day. A foul
RAWALPINDI: More than 9,600 textbooks, which were to be provided to students by the Punjab government and had been stolen from the well-guarded Directorate of Education on Murree Road, have been recovered by the police. Two individuals—a junk dealer who purchased the stolen textbooks and another person involved in the theft—were detained with the help of Safe City cameras, the Rawalpindi police said. However, the security guard of the Directorate of Education has been
BAHAWALPUR: The Government Girls High School in Sammasatta, one of the oldest government institutions in Bahawalpur district, is facing multiple problems, affecting the education and well-being of its 2,000 students. The school, spread over eight kanals, has only 18 classrooms with 23 sections, forcing students to sit in an open steel and iron-erected shed, braving extreme weather conditions. The shortage of classrooms has led to classes being held in the school’s verandas, which have
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has underscored the need that courts, particularly family courts and judges of the district judiciary, must hear and respect the voice of the child in cases relating to their custody and guardianship. “This is not an aspirational goal but a binding obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),” Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah wrote in a judgement on a case related to the custody of
In a horrifying incident of domestic abuse, a man subjected his two minor stepdaughters to torture in the Shah Nawaz Bhutto Colony area of North Karachi and fled the scene. The girls were severely injured after they were brutally beaten up by their stepfather Shehryar, alias Sherry, who fled after committing the crime. Police have registered a case of attempted murder against the stepfather. According to police, the case was registered at the Khawaja
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping the landscape of education and research, demanding a thoughtful and urgent response from educators and policymakers. As a faculty member and a member of the Advanced Studies and Research Board at a public sector university, I have witnessed both the excitement and the uncertainty that AI tools like ChatGPT have generated within academic circles. While the potential of GenAI to enhance learning and scholarly productivity is undeniable,
The Pakistan Eye Bank Society (PEBS), in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Heidelberg Schloss, launched a ‘School Eye Clinic’ project on 27-May-2025 to screen as many as 60,000 schoolchildren. German Consul General in Karachi Dr Rudiger Lotz inaugurated the project at the PEBS Hospital in North Karachi. Sri Lankan Consul General in Karachi Jagath Abeywarna also attended the inaugural ceremony. In his welcome address, Qazi Sajid Ali, president of the PEBS, recalled: “We
ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Tuesday rejected the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2025 which fixes minimum age for marriage at 18, terming the legislation passed by the National Assembly and Senate against Islam. “The CII at its meeting termed the Child Marriage Restraint Bill which was moved by Sharmila Faruqui MNA in the National Assembly as un-Islamic,” an official statement issued by the CII media wing after the meeting said. The
Rawalpindi. Rawalpindi DC Hassan Waqar Cheema on Tuesday imposed a ban on private schools, academies and colleges across the district from collection of children’s fees for two or three months in a lump sum amount. A warning notice has been issued stating that any institution violating this ban will face strict legal action. All schools are required to collect fees on a monthly basis as usual. The DC has clarified that those parents who
The police registered an FIR of murder against the father on the complaint of the mother RAWALPINDI: A man killed his one-and-a-half-year-old innocent daughter by beating her in the area of Chaklala police station. The police registered an FIR of murder against the father on the complaint of the mother of the deceased girl, Inayat Fatima. The accused managed to escape from the hospital. The mother of the one-and-a-half-year-old deceased girl, Inayat Fatima, Asiya