K-P Assembly condemns minor’s rape in Mansehra

Parliamentary body formed to amend laws on child abuse, introduce death penalty


​ Our Correspondent December 31, 2019

PESHAWAR: Enraged over the sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy in Mansehra over the weekend, lawmakers in the provincial assembly on Monday condemned the incident and decided to form a parliamentary body to introduce amendments to the existing laws on child abuse by including the death penalty.

The house also approved two bills and passed four resolutions.

As the Khyber-Pakhtun­khwa (K-P) Assembly resumed on Monday, several lawmakers stood up holding banners and placards while demanding the arrest of the suspect. They also called for amending existing laws so that ‘exemplary’ punishment could be awarded to the suspects if they are proven guilty.

Addressing the session, Jamat-i-Islami’s (JI) Inyatullah Khan demanded that the existing laws be reviewed to addresses legal lacunas and offer better protection to children.

K-P Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ghani, who was presiding over the session, termed the rape of the 10-year-old boy in Mansehra a matter of ‘shame’ for the entire nation.

He directed the provincial police to trace and arrest murderers of Faryal in Abbottabad within a month and submit a report in this regard.

Awami National Party’s (ANP) parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said that measures should be taken to prevent incidents of child abuse from taking place and suggested that death penalty should be awarded in such cases.

Talking about the murder of a government official in Kohistan, Babak termed the incident tragic and called for a thorough investigation to expose the true culprits. Referring to the case of police officer Tahir Dawar, who was kidnapped from the federal capital and his body was recovered in Afghanistan, Babak lamented that no investigation was conducted into the grisly episode.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota said that the Mansehra incident was not the first in the region with dozens of child rape cases reported in the Hazara division over time.

“Only stringent laws can address the menace of child sexual abuse,” he stated.

ANP lawmaker Laiq Muhammad Khan said that an effective mechanism for investigation should be devised for probing rape cases.

Responding to the complaints of opposition lawmakers, K-P Law Minister Sultan Muhammad Khan termed the incident a ‘serious issue’.

The prime suspect in the case has been arrested and now it was up to the court to punish him under the law,” he said.

The minister continued that ‘The Child Rights Act 2010,’ is in place to protect the rights of children in the province. He asserted that punishment listed in the law for those found guilty of raping a child is 14 years in jail. The punishment for child pornography, he pointed out, is three-year jail.

The law minister said that the sub-committee of the cabinet keeps an eye on the prosecution and police and hold it accountable.

He said that the subject should be made part of the syllabus at the primary and secondary level schools.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Nighat Orakzai, Babak and Inyatullah presented an adjournment motion asking the federal government to ensure that the province is provided with its share of the net hydel profit as per the AGN-Kazi formula. The issue should be debated in the assembly so that recommendations could be made for protecting the rights of the province, she demanded.

Babak and Inyatullah said that officers of the management cadre have been promoted, however, orders for their appointment have yet to be issued, creating concern amongst their ranks.

The session was then adjourned till Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2019.

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