A local court on 24 January 2025 sent a teenage girl, who was allegedly kidnapped from Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area and later recovered from Naushehro Feroze, to a shelter home. The court also remanded a suspect arrested in connection with her alleged abduction in police custody for interrogation. The girl went missing after she had left her home in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 5 on the evening of January 16 to attend a Majlis at an imambargah.
Child Rights in Focus
LARKANA: Jubilations at a wedding ceremony in the Tunia locality of Warah town turned into mourning after celebratory firing left the bride’s 14-year-old brother dead on late 22nd January. Some guests at the ceremony were firing into the air in jubilation during which a stray bullet hit Hussain Ali Kumbhar, the bride’s brother. He was rushed to the taluka hospital and provided emergency treatment. Doctors referred him to a major hospital considering his critical
The provincial minister for education Syed Sardar Ali Shah and the minister for prisons Ali Hassan Zardari on 23-January-2025 in a meeting decided to empower convicted prisoners’ kids through education. Officials said that the Sindh government has decided to formulate a plan to assist the children of convicted prisoners in completing their education. In a joint meeting chaired by the Sindh minister for education Syed Sardar Ali Shah and the minister for prisons Ali
PESHAWAR: About 62 underage children were rescued and 133 professional beggars were arrested during a crackdown against organized begging networks on 23-January-2025. Conducted under the supervision of Commissioner Peshawar Division Riaz Khan Mahsud under the directives of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur, the campaign aims to rehabilitate vulnerable individuals while dismantling mafias exploiting them for financial gain. The children were shifted to Zamung Kor welfare centres in Hayatabad and Charsadda Road, receiving
Islamabad: The Pakistan Institute of Education (PIE) and the Data and Research in Education – Research Consortium (DARE-RC) jointly hosted a policy dialogue on ‘Initiating an Early Warning System (EWS) to Identify Students at Risk of Dropout’ here. The event brought together policymakers, education experts, and key stakeholders to address Pakistan’s pressing issue of school dropouts. Additional Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education Hassan Saqlain participated as the chief guest. Discussions revolved around
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
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.