Madadgaar Helpline to file plea in SC against federal, provincial govts

Petition seeks safety and security of country's vulnerable children

KARACHI: Irked by the government's slack attitude in recovering thousands of missing, kidnapped and trafficked children, a civil society organisation has decided to file a petition against the federal government and all the provincial governments, seeking the safety and security of these vulnerable children.

"The state has failed to protect our children as the number of missing, kidnapped and trafficked beggars and street children is on the rise," said the founder of Madadgaar Helpline and National Children's commissioner, Zia Ahmed Awan, while addressing a press conference on Tuesday.

The constitution addresses child protection in a number of articles and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) also outlines the fundamental rights of children, said Awan, highlighting Article 11 (kidnapping) and Article 35 (abduction, sale and trafficking) of the UNCRC, which states that it is the responsibility of the government to take all measures, whether legislative, administrative or operational, to ensure that children are not kidnapped, abandoned or trafficked.



Criticising the role of police in such cases, Awan reiterated that the state has failed in evolving a coordination or assistance mechanism among the provinces for rescuing, recovering and reuniting these children with their families.

"The protection of these children is not on the agenda of any of the provincial governments," he added. "We have decided to go to the Supreme Court with a plea to take cognisance of this situation. The only means of seeking justice is by filing a public interest litigation under Section 3 of Article 184 of the Constitution."

According to Awan, the petition wants all the respondent government departments to reveal the strategies they have developed, if any, for the protection of children, develop mechanisms to address the issue of inter-provincial coordination and cooperation for rescue, recovery and reunification of missing, kidnapped, trafficked and street children and present for review their agreements with neighbouring countries regarding trafficking and migration.