PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Sobia Shahid on 7 June 2024 submitted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2024 to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat. She said the bill was aimed to make child marriage a cognisable offence, adding under the bill, whoever committed the offence would be punished with rigorous imprisonment, which might extend to three years with a minimum term of two years. Ms Shahid said according to the Bill, a person
Child Rights in Focus
ON a cold morning in 1937, a remand home was inaugurated in Karachi under the Bombay Children Act, 1924. This remand home was later shifted to near Central Jail in Karachi, and is now functioning in accordance with the Sindh Children Act, 1955, and the Sindh Remand Homes Rules, 2011. Another remand home has been sanctioned in Nawabshah/ Shaheed Benazirabad, but it is non-functional. Despite the passage of nearly 90 years, there is only
Lahore: The Punjab Government has proposed amendments to laws regarding child marriage for extending the term “child” to individuals under 18 years of age. The proposal was shred by Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman during a meeting of the Cabinet Standing Committee on Legislation and Enforcement on 6th June 2024. He said the aim of amending the Child Marriage Act of 1929 was to deter distinction among while enforcing the law. Changes in the
RAWALPINDI: The Education Department has approved three boys’ and 3 girls’ high schools as models eco-friendly schools in all 23 tehsils of Rawalpindi division. The Ministry of Education has asked the District Education Authority’s CEOs of all 42 districts of the province for the list of these schools by the end of this week. There will be tree planting and kitchen gardening in the model schools of each tehsil. Sources said that fruity shade
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah approved on 5 June 2024 an additional amount of Rs520 million for the new under construction paediatric unit at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). He was presiding over the 82nd governing body meeting of the institute at the CM House. The attendees included Health minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, MPAs Sadiya Javed, Rukhsana Parveen, secretary finance Fayaz Jatoi, secretary to CM
A new UNICEF study finds that investing in resilient energy would also add US$ 2.3 billion to Pakistan’s economy, bring a triple return on investment and boost education. ISLAMABAD/ NEW YORK, 31 May 2024 – A new UNICEF study shows that powering more health facilities with resilient energy in Pakistan could avert over 175,000 deaths by 2030 and contribute US$ 296 million to Pakistan’s economy by 2044 by the reduced maternal, adult and infant mortality,
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah inaugurated on Tuesday the Vocational Training Centre for Persons with Disabilities, Ancholi, in a simple ceremony organised at CM House on 4th June 2024. The chief minister got the plaque unveiled by Ali Ansar, who is a differently-abled person. The ceremony was attended by officials and heads of different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working for welfare of differently-abled persons. The chief minister was informed that 240 people
KARACHl: A district and sessions court has sentenced a man to life in prison for raping a nine-year-old girl within the remit of the Kalri police station. Additional District and Session Judge Ashraf Hussain Khowaja convicted Syed Rizwan Ali for assaulting the minor girl, who was his `close relative`. The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000. In case of default on payment the convict would undergo an additional three month imprisonment. `There was
LAHORE: The police lodged a case against the owners and staff of a private girls` hostel in Johar Town for recording videos of the residents through hidden cameras installed in washrooms, causing apprehensions that these clips may be sold and used in the `dark web` or social media. The matter surfaced when one of the girls traced a camera in a washroom of the hostel and informed her uncle about it, who reached Lahore
RAWALPINDI: As the garrison city reports as many as 128 cases of measles since May 2024 this year, the district health authority has decided to inoculate children under five, during a polio campaign in the garrison city on Monday, to prevent the outbreak of the highly contagious disease, which poses a danger to children. So far, the city has seen 579 cases this year, with five deaths among children reported from January to June.
IN a country where the child rights debate has been a belated one, it is heartening to note that a recent Supreme Court judgement calls for the state to establish child-friendly courts with specially trained judges. The apex court recognised that the welfare of minors should be `the foundational principle` in settling custody matters. `It is the duty of the courts to assess and determine a course that would have served the best interest