Law passed: Child Protection and Welfare Bill approved

The Child Protection and Welfare Bill was approved by Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Barrister Masood Kausar for the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata) K-P. A notification to this effect was issued by the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs Department stating that the act has been approved with the consent of the President of Pakistan. According to the notification, the children deprived of basic facilities in the Pata areas should be provided protection, welfare training, education, rehabilitation, and reintegration. It further said that the act should be enforced immediately. On September 6, 2010 K-P Assembly enacted the act, which also declared various child-related offences as penal offences for the first time. The law was initially introduced as an ordinance promulgated by the then governor Owais Ahmad Ghani, which was subsequently extended after expiry of its three-month constitutional life by the provincial assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2012.