SARGODHA: A 14-year-old girl died due to alleged negligence committed by a quack at Gulshan-i-Aziz Colony. The mother of the girl, Ariza Fatima, told Dawn on July 2, they took Ariza to the Rashid Medical Store on the Girls College Road due to pain in her toenail. At the drugstore, quack Nadeem bandaged it and instructed her to come the next day for dressing. The girl was taken to the store again the next
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI: Archbishop Dr Joseph Arshad, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi, has expressed deep concern over the rising incidents of child sexual abuse and violence in Pakistan, calling the situation a national tragedy that requires urgent and effective action. Addressing an event on the protection of children’s rights, Archbishop Arshad said cases of child sexual abuse in Pakistan continue to increase. He said the reported cases rose by eight per cent in
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on July 9 remanded a man into police custody in a case pertaining to the alleged rape and murder of a six-year-old boy. The investigating officer of the case produced the suspect before the judicial magistrate (South) and sought his 14-day physical remand. The IO informed the court that a provision related to ‘rape’ had been added to the case. He said the suspect’s physical custody was needed for his
LAHORE: A class six girl student was found dead in the washroom of a tuition centre at Ichhra on July 9. The 10-year-old (N) had gone along with her two other sisters (13 and 6 years old) to a nearby house where two female teachers were giving tuition services to the students. According to the initial police reports, the three girls were daughters of an auto-rickshaw driver who told the media that he got
KARACHI: He called him uncle. He followed him trustingly. He let him buy him sweets. And in that trust, Hamza found his opening – during the chaos of a funeral, he took the six-year-old to his flat, raped him, strangled the life out of him, and then, unspeakably, violated his tiny lifeless body all over again. The sickening confession, delivered coldly during interrogation, has left investigators reeling and a neighbourhood shattered. The perpetrator of
It has been over two years since the country declared a National Education Emergency, but Pakistan is still stuck with the second-largest out-of-school population globally. A new comprehensive comparative policy review, prepared by the Civil Services Academy (CSA) and reported on by the media earlier this week, estimates that between 25.1 million and 26 million school-age children are currently out of school. The CSA review warns that without addressing systemic data and governance gaps,
BAHAWALPUR: Police claimed to have arrested a prayer leader on July 8 for allegedly raping a deaf and mute boy in Bahawalpur district, while another man was held for attempted sexual assault on a girl in Lodhran district. In the first incident, Sammasatta police in Bahawalpur district claimed to have arrested a prayer-leader on the charge of raping a teenage deaf and mute boy. According to the complainant, Mukhtiar Ahmed, a resident of Mauza
• SESSI approves creation of endowment fund for rehabilitation and welfare of 78 children • Okays departmental action against 37 doctors and paramedical staff of its health facility KARACHI: Days after the government confirmed that as many as 78 children had been infected with HIV/AIDS at the Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution-run Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital, the institution has allocated a sum of Rs2 billion to set up an endowment fund to provide long-term medical
KARACHI: The body of a six-year-old boy, who went missing on July 6, was found stuffed in a gunny bag near his residence in the Lea Market area and an autopsy found he was murdered after being raped. Police claimed to have arrested the boy’s 20-year-old neighbour, who reportedly participated in a search operation launched by the victim’s family and area residents. The victim’s father, Abid Husain, told police that he is a rickshaw
KARACHI: A six-year-old boy died after falling into a 200-foot-deep well, believed to date back to the British era, in the Garden area on July 8, rescue services officials said. Rescue-1122 Spokesperson Hassaan Ul Haseeb Khan said the boy, Khalid Junaid, fell into an improperly covered well in Ghas Mandi, Garden, near Hanfia Masjid. A rescue team, along with an ambulance and a water rescue vehicle, was dispatched to the scene. He said the
The Sindh High Court on July 8 directed the Child Protection Authority and the SSPs of Khairpur and Jacobabad to ensure welfare, safety and rehabilitation of a nine-year-old girl who left the home of her parents along with her elder sister due to cruelty. The direction came on a petition of Hayatullah, who moved the court against abduction of his two daughters on May 12, 2025 from the Clifton area. The petitioner submitted that
GUJRAT: A man on 7 July killed his 10-year-old grandson to implicate his opponents in Sech Kalar area in Wahndo police precincts, Gujranwala. Police claimed to have traced and arrested the suspect within eight hours of the incident. Reports said police had found Shoaib (10) slain in an open field near his house. Police shifted the body to the hospital for autopsy and collected evidence from the crime scene whereas the city police officer