The investigation into the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a seven-year-old boy, Sarim, in North Karachi has been handed back to the concerned district police from the Anti-Violent Crime Cell. Subsequently, DIG West Irfan Ali has constituted a four-member Special Investigation Team to ensure a thorough probe into the case. DSP Fareed Ahmad will lead the SIT. According to SSP AVCC Aneel Haider, the cell typically handles cases of kidnapping for ransom. However, no
Child Rights in Focus
NAROWAL: A 14-year-old deaf girl was sexually assaulted by three youths. A Siddiqpura resident told police that his daughter left the house to buy biscuits from a nearby shop in the evening but did not return. When the family and neighbours started looking for her, they heard her cries from a house. As the door was knocked, the youth fled the scene. In the FIR, the complainant said the girl was kidnapped and rapped.
Experts urge community engagement to boost school enrolment rates ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a panel discussion titled ‘Women’s Education and Social Gains’ emphasised the need for community engagement to improve girls’ school enrolment rates. The panellists on the sidelines of ‘International Conference on Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities’ highlighted the importance of women’s education for development, peace, security, and justice, calling on religious scholars, media and all stakeholders to play a pivotal
TOBA TEK SINGH: Three youths were booked on 22nd January for allegedly kidnapping and gang-raping a first-year student in Jhang on the night of January 22. She fell unconscious and was admitted to Jhang DHQ Hospital in a critical condition. The complainant claimed in her FIR, registered under Section 375-A of the PPC by Satellite Town police, that her daughter, 17, was kidnapped by a named suspect and one unidentified accomplice. They took her
ISLAMABAD: The struggling directorate of special education, which supervises around 13 institutions for differently abled students, on 22nd January got Rs49 million in an additional grant from the Ministry of Education. Likewise, the school meal programme, under which children enrolled in public schools are provided free lunch, has also been extended to all special educational centres. “Today we received Rs49 million from the education ministry while the school meal programme has also been extended
The Government of Sindh has taken urgent measures to reduce the number of out-of-school children and is making possible the implementation of the Sindh Rights of Children’s Free Education Act, 2013. A spokesman for the Sindh government, Sukhdev Assardas Hemnani, has said that the government is actively working to address the issue of out-of-school children in the province in order to ensure that every child of the province has access to the right to
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported its first case of polio in 2025, a 45-month-old male child from Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), according to Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) officials on January 22. Health officials confirmed that the child, a resident of Union Council Lachra in tehsil DI Khan, belonged to the Bettani tribe and tested positive for the wild poliovirus (WPV1). The latest case was the first polio case in the country this year.
SWABI: The police on 22nd January arrested two teachers of a private welfare institution here for allegedly torturing an 11-year-old orphan boy. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has banned corporal punishment in educational institutions. The Chota Lahor city police station booked the teachers under the Child Protection Act after a video of corporal punishment went viral on social media. In the video, a teacher is seen holding both the hands of the boy and another
QUETTA: Judicial Magistrate Court One in Gwadar has granted bail to four students of the Baloch Students Action Committee who were arrested for setting up a book stall in front of Dhoriyah Academy. The court ordered their release after they submitted a bail bond of Rs40,000 each. The lawyers representing the detainees included Advocate Mir Adil Kalmati, the Acting President of Gwadar Bar, Senior Advocate Rustam Baloch, former President of Gwadar Bar, Advocate Siddique
Despite intensified efforts, police have yet to recover two young boys who were reportedly kidnapped from the Garden area six days ago. Authorities are now relying on newly obtained but unclear CCTV footage showing a man and woman on a motorcycle taking the children. The footage, while pivotal, lacks sufficient clarity to identify the culprits or the motorcycle’s registration number. Parents of the missing children have expressed frustration, urging law enforcement to expand their
ISLAMABAD: With the aim of strengthening punishment for rapists, the sub-committee of the Senate committee on interior has unanimously agreed to amend the punishment for those who commit rape of a minor or a person with mental and physical disability include: “or imprisonment for life but shall not be less than 25 years, along with fine that shall not be less than 1 million rupees.” The sub-committee, chaired by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, convened
Despite being a low transmission season, around 10 children are currently admitted at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital (SIDH) at NIPA in Karachi with measles, while four children are undergoing treatment for diphtheria. Similar cases are being reported at other health facilities of Karachi, including the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) and private hospitals, where children are being treated for vaccine-preventable diseases. The primary cause, according to health experts, is vaccine hesitancy and