Daily Times

LAHORE: The Civil Society Network of Pakistan along with the Centre for Human Rights Education has expressed deep concerns over the negligence of the Punjab government in resolving the issues related to child kidnappings and their exploitation.

In a statement issued on Friday, office bearers of both organisations strongly condemned the attitude of the concerned elected representatives as well as departments on failure to fulfill their duties and obligations, which included protection of lives of innocent children besides ending the wave of fear and terror prevailing in the city.

The statement further said that the Punjab government does not seem serious in resolving the issues of protection of children, as defined in the Child Rights Convention and guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan. It is very sad to mention that there has been no meeting held of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau’s board of governors, whose patron-in-chief was the chief minister, for last eight years, it added.

Civil Society Network President Abdullah Malik said, “We appreciate the Supreme Court of Pakistan for taking suo motu notice on the gross violations of the child rights in the province, however the government and its concerned institutions are trying to mislead the SC by tabling fake figures in the honourable court. The government should not play with figures but rather it should understand that it is a matter of the precious lives and future of the country.”

Situations tell the story that the provincial government has remained unable to establish effective mechanisms under the Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guaranteed free education for children aged between 5-16 years, he said. Malik demanded the government to review its VVIP protocol provisions, asking it to withdraw the 13,000 securities’ personal deployed for 413 VIPs of Lahore and instead utilise them for the protection of masses.

Malik also appreciated the committed human rights activists as well as the police, who were working rigorously to resolve issues related to child protection.

Centre for Human Rights Education Director Samson Salamat was of the view that the policy of denial creates more problems and therefore the government should admit its negligence and work wholeheartedly to resolve the problems.

Samson suggested that the government should constitute a provincial commission on the status of children to assess their situation and recommend for an effective legislation and policy for the protection of the children. He further suggested that an independent inquiry committee should be constituted to assess the performance of all the departments who were supposed to protect the rights of the children.