NA committee approves Zainab Alert Bill

The document will pave the way for setting up Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA)

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights has passed the Zainab Alert Bill was passed unanimously. The bill will pave the way for setting up Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA), where child missing case will be reported and it will generate an automatic alert.

It will also introduce response and recovery mechanism of missing children to prevent incidents like murder of Zainab, a nine-year old from Kasur.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights session was presided over by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at the Parliament House on Monday.

Bilawal said that the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir were a matter of great concern.

He noted that the government was unable to obtain 16 votes in the United Nations on Kashmir issue.

The PPP chairman questioned if Pakistan was concerned with the human rights violations in IoK, why the resolution was not submitted.
“If human rights were a priority, then what steps did Pakistan take to forward UN’s report on human rights to the world,” he asked.

He said that the PM’s speech should have mentioned the UN High Commissioner reports as it would have strengthened the stance of Pakistan.

The PPP chairman remarked that PM’s statement on Durand Line may raise a question on Pakistan’s history. On the Al Qaeda statement, he said slip of tongue was possible.



The foreign ministry officials in their briefing to the committee said that it was not necessary that every OIC member would be the member of Human Rights Council.

They maintained that submitting the resolution at General Assembly was a technical process and as per the conditions, it was deemed appropriate not to submit it and would be presented at an appropriate time.

They further said that investigations into human rights violations must be two sided.

The foreign ministry officials observed that their purpose was to bring forward the human rights violations being committed by India in occupied Kashmir.

It was said that not only Pakistan but other countries too had expressed concern over human rights violation in the occupied Kashmir.

Recommending adoption of effective steps in light of both UNHCR reports, it was stated that steps should be taken with the international bodies to pave the way for provision of food, medicines and other commodities in occupied Kashmir.

On PM’ statement regarding Afghanistan, the officials declared that the statement was given in the context of porous border as the NATO countries, USA and Pakistan had been together when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

They mentioned that a recognised international border was present between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A detailed report was sought from FIA regarding the PECA Act’s implementation and cases.