vulnerable children to be kept in Child Protection Bureau from March 5th

Peshawar: Street children, those living in jails with their imprisoned mothers and all other vulnerable to any kind of abuse could now, with the help of judiciary, be kept under protected custody of the Provincial Government at Child Protection Institutions being established at district level throughout the province.

In this connection as a pilot project the first Child Protection Bureau will be inaugurated in Peshawar on 5th March next. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development Ms. Sitara Ayaz revealed this Thursday here while presiding over the first meeting of the Child Protection Commission in her capacity of being Chair Person of the Commission. Members of the provincial Assembly Inayatullah Khan Jadoon, Shazia Tehmas, Secretary Social Welfare Sahibzada Fazal Amin, Director Social Welfare, Imtiaz Ayub, Chief Protection Officer, Abdus Samad Khan, Additional Secretary Roohullah, Chairperson of Dost Welfare Foundation, Dr. Parveen Azam Khan, Farooq Khatak Advocate, Tehsil Khateeb and other members of the commission including representatives of Finance, Home, Law, Local Govt: and Education Departments attended the meeting. At the outset of the meeting, the Provincial Minister told that the present provincial government soon after assuming power had expressed its commitment to enact a comprehensive law for protection and welfare of the children and finally at the end of last year the provincial assembly succeeded to pass the Child Protection and Welfare Act that has made it mandatory for the government to provide every kind of protection and welfare to the children vulnerable to any abuse or needed any legal or social help. Ms. Sitara Ayaz told that the child protection commission was also established under the same act and the provincial government was determined to make this commission strong and independent so that it could force the government to implement its prop! osals fo r protecting the rights of the child. She said that in this connection different committees will also be formed at district level comprising MPAs, civil society and religious scholars etc, which will propose measures for child protection whereas the commission will also act as a bridge between all the stakeholders. She further added that the commission should create awareness among all segments of the society about protection of the rights of the child and particularly students, teachers, ulema, media and police must be educated and apprised of the details of different sections of the act.

The MPA Inayatullah Jadoon on this occasion appreciated the commitment of the present government and particularly the efforts made by the provincial social welfare minister for getting the act passed by the assembly and said that primary purpose of the commission was to remove hurdles in implementation of the act so that fruits of this appreciable act of the government could reach to the needy children. The commission, during the meeting, also considered the observations expressed by the MPA Shazia Tehmas and certain other members about procedure of appointments of the staff of the commission and decided with consensus that the term of employment of the candidates who have also been selected should be reduced to three months only and in the meanwhile, formal service rules of the commission must be framed in a formal way for future recruitments. Earlier, the Chief Protection Officer explained all the parts and sections of the act and also presented proposed regulations of the commission for approval.