Sometimes, far away in the night, a wolf howled. Then he came nearer and howled again. It was a scary sound. Laura knew that wolves would eat little girls.” — From Little House in the Big Woods. In her classical children’s book, Laura Ingalls Wilder used these words to describe the monstrous inclination among wild carnivores to attack defenceless little girls in the anarchic forests of the 1870s in pre-modern America. More than a
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on August 31 issued notices to several ministries and regulatory bodies on a petition seeking legislation to regulate social media use by children under the age of 16. IHC Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar heard the constitutional petition, filed under Article 199 of the Constitution, by citizen Waqas Nasir through lawyers Muhammad Jalal Haider and Yahya Farid Khwaja. The petition called for an effective age-verification mechanism for social media
In the present day, we hear about everything from children being eaten, sexually abused and murdered to cyberbullying, online predators, explicit content and the terrifying possibilities opened up by artificial intelligence. The dangers surrounding children seem to have multiplied beyond anything previous generations had to contend with. And while the state has a responsibility to protect children, so do parents. Perhaps more than ever before, parenting today demands constant vigilance. Public horror was recently
HARIPUR: The post-mortem of a five-year-old girl has revealed her rape before the body’s disposal in an unused well here. The post-mortem report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said the girl was sexually assaulted, while her both thigh bones were fractured. It said that the cause of death was excessive bleeding, which might have occurred before the girl was thrown into the well. The post-mortem was conducted under the supervision of
WHERE does one begin? The mind goes first to the parents of the 14 newborns who died early on January 26 in the Mother and Child Health Ward of Islamabad’s Pims Hospital. The heart falters at the sheer scale of their loss. Their grief is shared across the country by people still struggling to comprehend how a tragedy of this magnitude was allowed to happen, and who must be held responsible. Multiple explanations have been
ISLAMABAD: The reception area outside the building that housed Pims’ Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Centre has turned into a memorial, where parents, relatives and well-wishers of the newborns who perished in the tragic fire hold vigil in memory of the dearly departed. But amid the mourning, there is one tiny corpse for whom no one weeps; an abandoned baby with no name, and no family to claim him. The two-month old — who
KARACHI: The Sindh School Education and Literacy Department has directed all privately managed schools in the province to immediately implement comprehensive fire safety measures. The directive, issued by the Additional Director Registration here on August 26, says, “In view of the recent fire incidents and in order to prevent any untoward occurrence, it is hereby made mandatory for all privately managed schools to adopt and strictly implement comprehensive fire safety protocols with immediate effect,
KARACHI: The Student Attendance Monitoring and Redress System (SAMRS) has been extended to 3,647 government schools as part of the provincial government’s ongoing digital reforms. The system, introduced on the directives of Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah, is aimed at digitally maintaining students’ attendance and academic records, including academic performance, examination results and school transfers. According to a press release issued here on Thursday, as many as 3,481 government schools had been
RAWALPINDI: Police on August 27 registered a case against a man accused of allegedly engaging in inappropriate conduct with his two daughters. The case was registered at Wah Cantt police station on the complaint of the accused’s wife who said she had married Shahzad Hussain 20 years ago. The couple has two daughters and a son. Their daughters are aged 17 and 15. The complainant said following marital differences with her husband over the
A horrible tragedy has occurred at the heart of the capital city, shaking the nation to its core. Fourteen newborn babies are dead after a fire tore through the Mother and Child Hospital at PIMS. They were among the most helpless patients imaginable, incapable of fleeing or calling for help. Their parents entrusted them to a state hospital. The state failed them. The tragedy was barely hours old when the machinery of political theatre
ISLAMABAD: Fourteen infants were killed in a fire that broke out in the gynaecology ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) early on August 26. What has happened so far: 14 babies die after fire erupts in ward; initial reports say spark erupted from AC, blaze spread due to oxygen points Bereaved families decry rescue teams arrived “too late”; witnesses report locked doors Health secretary removed; inquiry panel formed on PM’s orders; separate fact-finding committee constituted Health Minister Mustafa
HARIPUR: Haripur District Police Officer (DPO) Shafiullah Gandapur said on August 25 that the force had arrested four suspects in connection with the alleged abduction, sexual assault and murder of a five-year-old girl. Addressing a press conference, the DPO expressed sorrow over the death and said the disappearance or abduction of a child was not merely a family tragedy but a matter of concern for the entire society. According to the police, her father reported her