LAHORE: Declaring the definition of ‘child’ in the Child Marriage Act, 1929 unconstitutional, the Lahore High Court has directed the Punjab government to revise the provincial version of the legislation and end the age-based distinction between males and females. `The definition of child in the 1929 Act while making a distinction on the basis of age, is not based on an intelligible criteria having nexus with the object of the law,’ Justice Shahid Karim
Child Rights in Focus
MANSEHRA: With a significant number of child marriage cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is still without any legislation to effectively check underage wedlock. According to government`s Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Project, which has been launched in 10 of 38 districts of the province since 2021, child brides are the worst victims of physiological traumas and reproductive health issues compared with their counterparts married off in the age of 20 and above. Its report says that
A magisterial court has extended the physical remand of an accused, implicated in a sodomy case involving a minor, by three days. The extension comes after the police requested additional time to conduct further tests on the accused. Accused Qari Abubaker was once again brought before the Shahdara police, seeking an extension of his remand to facilitate additional testing. The defence counsel argued against the extension, alleging that the police had unlawfully obtained evidence
In a tragic incident on the second day of Eid, a father in the Madwala Township of Alipur, Dera Ghazi Khan, brutally slayed eight family members, including his wife and seven children, before fleeing the scene. Upon receiving reports from reports from local residents, Madwala police Chowki and SHO of Saddar Alipur police station Asmat Abbas, Accompanied by a heavy police contingent reached the scene. Regional Police Officer (RPO) Capt (retd) Sajjad Hassan Khan
ISLAMABAD: United Nations (UN) human rights experts have expressed dismay at the lack of protection for women and girls belonging to non-Muslim communities in Pakistan, saying that they remained vulnerable to forced marriages and conversions, Dawn.com reported. “Christian and Hindu girls remain particularly vulnerable to forced religious conversion, abduction, trafficking, child, early and forced marriage, domestic servitude and sexual violence,” the rights experts said in a statement issued on 11 April 2024 in Geneva.
ISLAMABAD: Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai after showing concerns over 26 million out-of-school children and a large number of vacant seats for teachers in Pakistan has offered a helping hand and asked the prime minister to focus on the education sector to promote education. Malala Yousafzai in a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said: ‘Currently, 26 million children predominantly girls in the poorest districts of Pakistan remain out of school.’ Furthermore, more
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on 9 April 2024 announced that the federal government would declare an education emergency in the country and would provide all possible resources to educate children of poor families. He vowed to replicate his idea of free education to children of the poor and deserving families by establishing Daanish Schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, GilgitBaltistan, and remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh to fulfill aspiration of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad
The Jamshoro district police have detained three suspects in connection with the murder of an eight-year-old Asia Mughal whose dead body was found in the ruins of an old house in Mahmood Shah Colony area of Kotri. Besides rounding up the suspects for interrogation, SP Muhammad Tahir Nawaz formed a five-member committee under DSP Abdul Raheem Khaskheli to probe into the case. The child enrolled in class four, in a local seminary had gone
As the month of Ramzan is near to its end, Hyderabad witnesses a notable rise in the presence of professional non-local beggars. The surge also includes innocent children often accompanying the beggars. Reports indicate that a significant portion of these beggars hail from other cities and even outside the province. The beggars have stationed themselves at key thoroughfares, intersections, street, markets and even near medical outlets, targeting areas with high foot traffic. The beggars
KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a man to 80 lashes for refusing to admit paternity of his child and falsely accusing his ex-wife of adultery. Additional District and Sessions Judge (Malir) Shehnaz Bohyo convicted Fareed Qadir under Section 7(1) of the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement Of Hadd) Ordinance, 1979 for disowning his legal child and making false accusations against his ex-wife. The said section of the ordinance reads: `Whoever commits gazf liable to
The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) Action Plan for 2023-2026 aims to improve the enforcement of child rights in Pakistan through collaborative efforts of state and non-state actors. It outlines three main goals which are to increase awareness and mobilization for child rights, enhance enforcement of child rights as per international obligations, and strengthen evidence and knowledge to inform related policies and programs. Read NCRC Action Plan 2023-2026
DADU: An eight-year old girl, who had gone missing since evening a day before, was found dead in a desolate place in Kotri Site area on 8 April 2024. Father of the victim, Liaqat Ali Hazara, said that his daughter had left home in Mahmood Shah Colony in Kotri Site area to buy goodies from a nearby shop in the locality during Iftar time yesterday but did not return. The family came to know