ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Human Rights (MOHR) has recently been directed by the National Assembly standing committee on Human Rights to table a concrete draft bill on organ transplantation before August 20. In his address to the body meeting organised here at the parliament house on Friday, MNA Baber Nawaz Khan asked the ministry to establish a strict legislation on illegal organ transplant in order to completely root out the vice from the country. He also suggested increasing the serving time for the perpetrators of this crime in the new legislation, further adding that all medical centres and hospitals found to be involved should also be immediately banned . In order to eliminate human rights violations in the country, he has also asked the administration to appoint special judges to deal with the HR issues exclusively, who should be pressed to solve the cases within three months. The chairman also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue letters to all their ambassadors appointed in different countries to direct them to not grant visas to any foreigners, applying for medical treatment. Dr Mirza Naqvi Zafar, Professor, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant (SIUT), also informed the committee that previously, Pakistan reported a significantly large number of cases of organ transplant and that in 2006, as many as 2000 kidneys transplant were performed in the country, out of which 1500 were executed for foreigners. However, after the promulgation of organ transplant act, these figures had dramatically decreased. As many as 4924 kidney transplants were conducted between September 2007 and March 2016 while 301 liver transplant, 315 Bone Marrow Transplant and 80 corneal transplants were also carried out in the same period. Furthermore, the donors involved in these procedures included 2787 male and 2137 female donors for kidney transplants, out of which, 4515 were living related donors and 405 were living unrelated Donors. He also apprised the committee about the law that had mandated every transplant to be held after acquiring the approval of the monitoring and evaluation committee, however, unfortunately, the non-implementation of the law continued to endanger many lives. The committee also took a strong notice of the complaint regarding the Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA) that it is issuing licenses to hospitals without following proper procedure. Representative Punjab Police said in this regard that even though they do take actions and arrest many perpetrators, the accused often acquire bails easily . He further claimed that HOTA is not performing its duty properly, which has resulted in open transplantation of organs across the country. In response, Additional Secretary Capital Administration and development Division (CADD), Zafar Nasarullah Khan also noted that under the organ transplantation act, this offence is non-bailable and the accused getting bail proves that the FIR is not being registered under this law. Secretary Ministry of Human Rights, Nadeem Ashraf, hence suggested MOHR write letters to interior secretaries of all the provinces to direct their Regional Police Officers (RPOs) to ensure a strict implementation of this law and form monitoring teams, who regularly organise visits to hospitals. He further recommended that the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) starts an effective monitoring of organ transplant cases, especially in those areas where a large number of complaints has been received. “The root cause of this heinous crime is poverty,” he said further adding that poor people who are forced to sell their body parts to get money should also be provided with loans on easy terms and conditions. The committee strongly condemned the ongoing HR violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir and also directed the issuance of letters to human rights ministries of others countries to raise voice against it.