ISLAMABAD: National Assembly special committee on child abuse on Monday vowed to obliterate child abuse from Pakistan. The committee also elected Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb as its chairperson.
Her name was proposed by MNA Romina Khursheed Alam and seconded by Zahid Hamid. The committee would review the existing laws and prosecution procedures to prevent incidents of child abuse. In this regard, it would consult all the stakeholders including the provincial governments and representatives of the civil society to improve the laws and their implementation.
Ministries of law and justice, and human rights and education would also present their proposals to the committee. For the prevention of child abuse and torture, guidance would also be sought from the experience of the regional countries and the laws in vogue there besides scrutinising the provincial laws.
The MOS speaking at the meeting said that the committee would firm up its recommendations within 30 days and present them to the National Assembly speaker. She said that the prompt justice done in the murder and abuse case of Zainab was a welcome development, and added that gathering of the incriminating evidence by the Punjab government was also very commendable.
Marriyum said that after reviewing the inputs from the stakeholders, amendments to the laws would be proposed wherever necessary so that nobody could dare to cast an evil eye on the children in future. She said that a proposal was also under consideration for the inclusion of information regarding awareness of violence on children and ways to prevent them in the education syllabus.
She said that media should play an effective role for creating awareness about the issue and that she would try her level best to shoulder the onerous responsibility of protecting the children and their rights with the spirit and love of a mother. Marriyum said that the National Assembly speaker deserved appreciation for his timely initiative to form the committee for taking long-term steps for the protection of children, and observed that the members of the committee had presented useful proposals for improving the laws and prosecution system with respect to child abuse.
The members of the special committee include Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and MNAs including Zahid Hamid, Shaista Pervez, Shahid Akhtar Ali, Romina Khursheed Alam, Dr Azra Afzal Pechuho, Engineer Ali Muhammad Khan, Advocate Kishwar Zehra and Sahibzada Tariq Ullah.
