- NA committee takes notice of not receiving response from NCHR
National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights on Thursday took serious notice of the 14 questions raised by the human rights body on the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) four months back but no reply was received yet.
The committee directed to form a five-member high-level body headed by Federal Minister for Human Rights Senator Kamran Michael, which would submit a report on all the issues raised by the committee members in 15 days.
The committee, met here under the chairpersonship of MNA Baber Nawaz Khan, expressed its serious concerns on sending a shadow report prepared by NCHR directly to Geneva without following the legal procedure.
According to official procedure, the commission has to submit its report to the departments concerned and it would be forwarded to any international forum officially. The committee took notice of the absence of financial and recruitment rules so far since the establishment of the commission in 2015.
NCHR Secretary Mashood Mirza apprised the committee members that they have prepared their financial rules but the Ministry of Human Rights raised objection that they were not taken on board while preparing the rules.
The committee chairman directed to form a new committee with the involvement of all stakeholders as per legal obligations for setting up new rules of the commission and draw a timeframe to complete the process speedily. The committee also condemned the child violence cases reported from Sheikhupura regarding a domestic servant and another one from Mardan.
Regarding the Sheikhupura incident, Secretary Rabia Agha Javari briefed the members that case has already been registered which is under investigation now and the accused was on bail while his brother was in custody.