Daily Times

The Speaker National Assembly (NA) Raja Pervez Ashraf has constituted a Parliamentary committee on child rights in order to genuine provision of fundamental rights to all children that said bright future of the country is interlinked with growth and development of children .

According to the available information the committee will also thoroughly pursue the unanimous resolution earlier passed by this house which was moved by Parliamentary Secretary on Law and Justice Mehnaz Akbar Aziz.

The Speaker appointed Aziz as convener of the committee while members included as Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, Saad Waseem, Naz Baloch, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, Asiya Azeem, Dr. Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Muhammad Abubakar, Shahida Akhtar Ali and Mohsin Dawar.

It was recommended that the provision of all due fundamentals to every child of the country would be ensured under this law.

The sources in the NA secretariat told Daily Times that the committee formed in the aftermath of an incident in Attock wherein some children were expelled from an education institute on the basis of their religion and got assurance that all students would be reinstated and given a relief in fees for three months.

Meanwhile, the National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) also took notice of the issue and summoned the Deputy Commissioner Attock to inquire into the matter. After which, the students were reinstated and given a relief in fees for three months. Under the NCRC Act 2017, all children have their equal rights regardless of their cast and religion, background or group. As per NCRC, the school administration had violated Article 25 (2) of the 1973 Constitution by withdrawing the admissions of students on the basis of their religion.

“As per its mandate, the National Commission on the Rights of Child will continue to monitor situations and developments on child rights to propose required actions to safeguard children from abuse, exploitation, violence and neglect. I strongly urge that policymakers, government institutions, parents and other civil society actors must converge their efforts to ensure that each child has equal opportunity to enjoy his/her rights and exploit optimum potential in an atmosphere of love, harmony and security,” the NCRC stated.

However, the sources highlighted, the Speaker Ashraf was concerned on overwhelming issues being faced by the children on a daily basis. “Actually speaker intends to house make its role in this regards,” he said an official privy to the development, adding that he held a meeting with some MNAs and finally selected Aziz to lead the committee as she has expertise in working in child rights and education sector.