CHILD abuse is so prevalent that the UN ranked Pakistan as the least safe country for children. Even so, more than five years after the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act, 2020 — Pakistan’s first national child protection law — central provisos, including the agency for rapid alerts for missing children, are lifeless due to shoddy implementation. The Islamabad High Court has taken notice of data from the ICT administration — 562 criminal cases
Child Rights in Focus
CHAKWAL: On the orders of the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench, a case has been registered at City police station Chakwal, against Sub-Inspector Mukhtar Ahmad, in-charge of the Special Sexual Offences Investigation Unit (SSOIU), police sources told Dawn on Friday. The case was filed under Section 155C of the Police Order 2002 and Section 166 of the Pakistan Penal Code, on the complaint of Mohammad Mukhtar, reader to the district police officer. The action
SAHIWAL: A woman and her daughter suffered severe burn injuries after her husband and brother-in-law allegedly doused them with petrol and set them ablaze in Shadman Colony on the afternoon of 5 June. Rescue 1122 shifted the injured mother and daughter to Sahiwal Teaching Hospital for treatment. Eyewitnesses said the fire also destroyed household furniture and utensils before the suspects fled the scene. Reports said Sobia Parveen, sister of complainant Muhammad Bilal and a
BATTAGRAM: The police arrested a man for assaulting a boy in the Allai tehsil here on June 5. Banna police station SHO Amjid Khan said the 10-year-old boy was assaulted in a nearby forest, where he was grazing his cattle. Mr Khan said the accused, identified as Naeem, also threatened to kill the minor if he revealed the incident to anyone. The boy told police that he yelled for help but to no avail.
ISLAMABAD: The capital police have registered at least 432 cases of “sexual assault” and “kidnapping” in the federal capital under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) during the first five months of this year, Dawn has learnt. According to the police sources privy to the data, a total of 55 cases of “sexual assault” have been registered during the said period. In one of the kidnapping cases, the victim was kidnapped from
RAWALPINDI: Punjab Minister for Health Khawaja Salman Rafique on June 5 said three state-of-the-art centres of excellence will be established in different districts under the Punjab Nursing and Health Workforce Reform Programme. “Mother and Child Hospital (near Asghar Mall) will be completed by next year and it will minimise burden on the three existing government hospitals in Rawalpindi,” he said. The minister stated this during a visit to Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and
PAKISTAN’S latest sub-national polio campaign offers encouraging evidence that the country can still push back against a virus that has proved stubbornly difficult to eliminate. Reaching more than 18.6m children across 79 high-risk districts and achieving 98pc coverage is no small feat. Behind it was the dedication of over 163,000 front-line workers who went door to door, often in difficult conditions, to ensure that children received life-saving protection. Particularly noteworthy was the effort to
ISLAMABAD: More than five years after the passage of a landmark child protection law, key provisions of the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act, 2020 — including the agency meant to issue rapid alerts for missing children — remain unimplemented, the Islamabad High Court was told on June 4. During the hearing of a writ petition filed by Sanila Khurram against the Federation of Pakistan and others, the court took notice of data submitted by
SWABI: The police on 3rd June recovered a girl, who was allegedly sold for Rs50,000 to a man from Punjab, and arrested three accused. The incident occurred in the Chota Lahor tehsil, the police said, adding that the girl’s father, Ayaz Khan, was reportedly kept in the dark about the matter by his wife. Haris Khan, a relative of Ayaz, while filing a report in the Chota Lahor city police station, said that Ayaz
• Official report links legal reforms, specialised investigation units and gender-based violence courts for sharp increase • Police cite better evidence handling and coordination with medico-legal officers; majority of cases still end in acquittals KARACHI: The conviction rate in rape cases in Sindh rose to 22 per cent in 2025 from 5pc in 2020, owing to a range of factors, including legal reforms, the establishment of gender-based violence courts and the formation of specialised
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has directed the education department to immediately initiate work on the legal framework for the construction of 72 Chief Minister Model Schools across the province. He stated this while chairing a meeting on the initiative, which is part of the government’s education reform agenda, according to a statement issued here on June 3. Afridi emphasised that the schools would be equipped with modern teaching methodologies, highly trained
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has upheld a sentence awarded to a child rapist and a murderer, ruling that individuals who voluntarily become intoxicated cannot claim exemption from criminal liability. “Intoxication caused by one’s own negligence or recklessness does not excuse the offence,” affirmed Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar in a three-page verdict he authored. The court ruling has put to rest the defence advanced by appellant Sunni Masih, who during the trial had taken