Islamabad: Country Director of Nutrition International Dr. Shabina Raza emphasised the critical need to focus on adolescent girls’ health, noting that the Social Protection Support Program for Adolescent Girls’ Nutrition will significantly contribute to reducing anaemia and promoting better nutrition outcomes. “By integrating nutrition interventions into social protection platforms like BISP, we are addressing a major health challenge and empowering the next generation,” Dr. Shabina told the SOPRAN launching ceremony here. The project, launched
Child Rights in Focus
QUETTA: SSP Serious Crimes Unit Zohaib Mohsin announced the arrest of a 15-year-old suspect named Mushtaq Hussain, alias Mehdi, in the murder of a young boy, Arman Ali, on September 20. The boy was found brutally killed and partially burned in Hazara Town. He made the announcement in a press conference in DIG office, Quetta on September 29. SSP Operations Quetta Mohammad Baloch was also present. SSP Serious Crime Unit revealed that during the
ISLAMABAD: As the country confirmed its 22nd polio case of the year, government officials renewed their appeals to parents and caregivers to vaccinate their children against the crippling disease. The latest case reported was of a 30-month-old boy from Pishin, Balochistan. The regional reference laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the presence of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in the child from Pishin area of Balochistan. “This brings
SAHIWAL: Local residents, enrolled students, and teachers of village 58/5-L in Sahiwal tehsil have demanded upgrade of the Government Girls Elementary School to a high school. Up to 243 girls are enrolled in this school, established in 1962 and located in rural Union Council No 17. This council encompasses eight villages with a combined population of over 35,000, and the village of 58/5-L itself has more than 7,000 residents. The surrounding villages served by
Over the past few decades, Pakistan has made significant progress in improving its education system. The country expanded free and compulsory education, increased female attendance, and saw major reforms like merit-based teacher recruitment and public-private partnerships (PPPs) to enhance teaching quality. Punjab, for example, doubled the number of children in school between 1998 and 2020. These efforts, supported by better data and civil society engagement, have laid the foundation for continued improvement. However, challenges
KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced an underage accused to one-year in prison for raping a seven-year-old boy. The court handed over the underage convict to a probation officer. The additional district and sessions judge (central) found the teenager guilty of committing an offence under Section 337-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) within the jurisdiction of the Yousuf Plaza police station in 2022. The judge also mentioned that during the final arguments, the
BAHAWALPUR: Bahawalpur Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered restoration of a case pertaining to alleged rape of a boy registered at Shaidani Sharif police station in Rahim Yar Khan district, directing Bahawalpur regional police officer (RPO) to initiate a fresh probe into the matter to deliver justice to the complainant. The court issued the orders on a writ petition filed by the eight-year-old victim and his uncle Sada Hussain. Sada told
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on 27th September 2024 questioned the maintainability of a petition filed by interned social worker Sarim Burney seeking the commencement of his trial in a child trafficking case. Citing the Ministry of interior, Federal Investigation Agency, judicial magistrate concerned and others as respondents, the petitioner sought a directive for the trial court to start his trial on the basis of an interim investigation report filed before the relevant court.
According to a spokesperson for the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), a nationwide crackdown against those selling drugs to students is ongoing. In the last 24 hours, six suspects were apprehended in five different operations around educational institutions. During these operations, approximately 15 kilograms of drugs valued at over Rs 1.2 million were seized. Near Farash Town in Islamabad, 150 grams of hashish and 10 ecstasy pills were recovered from one suspect. Similarly, in Lahore, near
KASUR: Scores of residents in Kot Murad Khan staged a protest on 27th September 2024 against the failure of the B-Division police to recover a boy who had been missing for the past 25 days. They blocked Ferozepur Road near the bypass by parking bikes and rickshaws, burning tyres and chanting anti-police slogans. Family members of 12-year-old Irfan said he left home 25 days ago to go to his workplace but never arrived. They
Pakistan turned 77 this year, yet the children harbored by the fifth most populated country continue to be failed by the state. One of the many challenges in this regard is child marriage. The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 Section 2(a) defines a “child” as “a person who, if a male, is under eighteen years of age, and if a female, is under sixteen years of age”. The term “child marriage” is defined in
HYDERABAD: More than 35 people, mostly children, suffered respiratory distress, coughing and throat and eye irritation after chlorine gas that leaked from a cylinder in the Hala Naka filtration plant spread in the Khursheed Town locality here on 24th September 2024. The plant is run by the Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HW&SC). It was reported that a total of 27 children and 10 adults were affected by the gas leak and were taken