960 cases of sexual abuse, violence against children reported in past six years

KARACHI: As many as 65 cases of child sexual abuse and 895 cases of violence against children have been reported to the Sindh Child Protection Authority since its inception in 2011, while the Sindh police have also registered 96 cases of child and violence against children.

Social Welfare Minister Shamim Mumtaz stated these figures in the Sindh Assembly on Friday while responding to a call to attention notice by Muttahida Qaumi Movement MPA Rana Ansar seeking details on the cases of child abuse and violence against them reported from Sindh.

Mumtaz told lawmakers that the house passed the Sindh Child Protection Bill in 2011 and its rules were framed in 2016. “Child Protection Units are functioning in 29 districts from where 960 cases of child abuse and violence have been reported. Of these, 65 were purely child sexual abuse cases,” she said.

In addition to Child Protection Units, some other institutions like Darul Atfaal and Darul Banath are also functioning and providing food, education and shelter to homeless children, she added.

Senior Minister Nisar Khuhro told the house that the Sindh Youth Policy would also be framed and approved within the next few months and assured that it would also ensure provision of jobs to youth.

On another call to attention notice, Khurram Sher Zaman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that development schemes of five major housing schemes including Karachi, Lyari, Malir, Hyderabad and Sehwan development authorities were still incomplete despite the passing of several decades, because of which more than 350,000 allottees are facing hardships.

“One of the housing schemes is 38 years old but people still have not been able to get possession of their lands,” he said. “People are not even sure where they have been allotted land, while no development work has been carried out by these authorities.”

Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro criticised the PTI MPA for being ignorant and claimed that he (Zaman) didn’t know anything about these housing schemes and that the data he was quoting was also incorrect. “Allotment of lands is the only source of income for these housing authorities but due to a judgment by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, they are unable to carry out development works,” he claimed. Special education Responding to questions from lawmakers about special education in the province, Adviser to the CM Rehana Laghari said that there is only one special education college. However, she added that the province has 50 centres offering special education, while the government is also planning to establish 12 more.

There is not a single ghost teacher in the special education department which is imparting education to 30,000 children, she added.

In response to allegations that the condition of these special education centres is pathetic, Rehana said in 2011 this department was separated from education and after the 18th Amendment, this area of education was also devolved to the provinces.

She claimed that 45 students were studying at the special education college in Hyderabad and added that the Sindh government increased the number of special education centres from 20 to 50, which are functioning at division and district levels.

Moreover, in Friday’s session, the assembly rejected a resolution by PTI’s Zaman to discuss the clean drinking water crisis, but accepted a resolution by Senior Minister Khuhro to debate the issue of water in the province on Monday.