ISLAMABAD: The tragic fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) gynaecology ward, which claimed the lives of 14 infants, has prompted authorities to conduct fire drills in key government offices to reinforce safety measures. On Friday, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) conducted a special fire safety mock drill at the Parliament House to assess and strengthen emergency preparedness and response mechanisms in the event of a fire or other emergency. Similarly, the Federal Constitutional
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: Around 1.5 million internet-using Pakistani children aged 12 to 17 were subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse online in a single year, according to a report launched by the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) in collaboration with UNICEF Pakistan. The Disrupting Harm in Pakistan report, funded by Safe Online and implemented by ECPAT International, INTERPOL and UNICEF, estimates that around 1.5 million internet-using children aged 12 to 17 were
Nearly 6 percent of internet-using children aged 12–17 in Pakistan experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse in the past year, predominantly via platforms like Snapchat and WhatsApp. In 85 percent of cases, the abusers were known to the child rather than strangers. Fear of community stigma, victim-blaming, and mistrust in authorities led to 57 percent of these incidents never being disclosed, with zero surveyed children reporting to formal avenues like the police or helplines.
KARACHI: Police have arrested two minor relatives in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Machhar Colony, within the remits of Sohrab Goth police station. According to police, the incident took place when the girl’s father left her at a relative’s house while he went out for some work. Two boys, aged 13 and 15, who were present at the house, allegedly assaulted the girl, following which her health deteriorated.
QUETTA: An eight-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered in the Ahmad Wal area of Balochistan’s Noshki district, police said on Monday, adding that three suspects had been arrested in connection with the horrific crime. According to police, the victim was allegedly subjected to sexual assault before being killed in Ahmad Wal a day earlier. Police recovered her body and took it to Civil Hospital Quetta for a post-mortem examination. Law enforcement authorities
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
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,