ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on 26 April 2024 emphasised the need for making concerted efforts on part of the police force to shift its investigation techniques by introducing and relying on forensic science and accordingly train specialised officers in this field. “The cornerstone of criminal justice system is the effective functionality of the investigating agency and prosecution since a faulty investigative process will continuously dampen trust and confidence in the criminal justice system,” observed
Child Rights in Focus
LAHORE: Police have arrested a man after a minor girl succumbed to the burns she allegedly suffered while working as home help at his Millat Park residence. Identified as Zainab (9), the girl was employed at the house of the suspect, Salman, who claimed that she had suffered burns when a gas cylinder exploded in the kitchen. Following the incident, Operations DIG Faisal Kamran visited the suspect’s house, along with other police officers. During
ISLAMABAD: While World Malaria Day was observed under a global theme, ‘Accelerating the fight against malaria for a more equitable world’ on 25 April 2024, Pakistan has committed to controlling the mosquito-borne disease, hoping to ‘become malaria free by 2035’. Once, Pakistan was eying the status of a malaria-free country but now it seems the goal may not be achieved in the near future. Health Ministry’s Special Secretary Syed Waqar ul Hassan said that
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on 24 April 2024 acquitted the two men who were handed down life imprisonment in one of the cases pertaining to Kasur child abuse scandal surfacing in 2015. A two-member LHC bench comprising Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Amjad Rafiq allowed the appeals of the convicts -Haseem Amir and Faizan Majeed. A counsel for the appellants argued that there were several discrepancies in the prosecution’s story and the
Child marriages remain a pressing issue globally, affecting the lives of millions of young girls. According to UNICEF, one in every six young women is married during childhood. To combat this harmful practice, the National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) has taken significant steps towards legal reforms in Pakistan. The NCRC recognizes that early marriages hinder girls’ education, empowerment, and overall well-being. To address this, they have proposed legal reforms that set
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber crime circle had apprehended an accused for his alleged involvement in sharing child pornography content online. As per reports from officials, the suspect, identified as Hasan Amin, was apprehended during a raid in the federal capital. He was found to be sharing objectionable photographs and videos of children online as well as engaging in blackmail using such content. The suspect distributed objectionable content to the victim through platforms
The 18th Amendment, enacted on April 19, 2010, was a blessing for Pakistan. It achieved many vital shifts; abolishing the Concurrent List (47 subjects) including education (#38), devolving those to the provinces in a multi-tiered governance system; ‘decolonising’ the NWFP by renaming the province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; providing new fundamental rights, including the Right to Education under Article 25-A and the Right to Information under Article 19-A; and much more. Also in 2010, the Annual
Islamabad: Child Protection Institute (CPI), Ministry of Human Rights, has dealt with 260 cases of child protection since its inauguration in June 2021, says the data released by CPI. Among the total number, 243 were boys and 17 were girls. Out of the total number of cases, 125 cases were of beggary, 56 of child labour, 30 of garbage pickers, 15 cases of drug abuse, 9 of sexual abuse and 20 cases were of
TOBA TEK SINGH: Five out of the 12 workers, including a 12-yearold boy, who had suffered burns in a steam boiler explosion in a textile mills located on Sargodha Road near motorway M-4 at Faisalabad on April 20, succumbed to their injuries on 23rd April night and 24th April. The deceased workers include a minor boy Salman (12), his father Fayyaz (40), residents of Bahawalnagar, Waseem (18) and Mustansar (24), both of Arifwala and
ISLAMABAD: Education Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on 23rd April 2024 said challenges of education could not be addressed until the provinces and the federation worked in unison. He highlighted the importance of ensuring that all stakeholders were on the same page and owned the direction taken by the federal government in resolving the current challenges of the education sector. The minister said access to quality education, teacher training and infrastructural and curriculum limitations
RAWALPINDI: The District Education Authority Rawalpindi has issued a notification for the establishment of school councils or school management committees. The number of council members will be a minimum of nine and a maximum of 17. According to the notification issued by CEO Yasin Baloch, the committee in each school will comprise two notables of the area, a retired schoolteacher, one member each from the armed forces and civil services, two members from parents
Whenever the country is hit by an economic crisis, news media starts brimming with reports of children abandoned by parents, inside garbage cans and at shrines, out of which only a lucky few end up in the custody of trusted orphanages or doting adoptive parents, the rest however, are left stranded at the mercy of wild stray dogs and illegal shelter homes. In Punjab, several shelter homes are working at the government and non-government