KP govt yet to appoint head of child protection body

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led provincial government has yet to appoint head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Commission even though the number of child abuse cases is increasing with every passing day.

The provincial government does not seem to be interested in filling the post of the Chief Protection Officer (CEO). One year has passed since the advertisement for the job was published.

The position is still vacant and in the meanwhile several cases of child abuse have been reported.

The sources said the recruitment process was delayed due to complaints that a certain political party was trying to appoint its own man.

They said the government wanted to change the qualification for the post from Master’s in Social Sciences, LLB or MBBS degree to simple BA to the advantage of its blue-eyed person.

The sources said that some competent candidates, including Hussain Ali Seena, a child protection expert who served on senior positions for more than 15 years at the United Nations and international NGOs working for child protection, were ignored in the appointment process.

Talking to The News, Deputy Chief Officer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Commission, Muhammad Ijaz Khan said the government was going to amend rules for appointment of the CEO.

It is strange that the previous ANP-led provincial government appointed Dr Murad Ali, a close relative of the former Social Welfare Minister despite the fact that he had done MBBS while the position was of a manager.

The commission is also facing financial issues. It is without budget even after the passage of more than half of the financial year 2017-18.

The sources said though the government had allocated a meagre budget of Rs10 million for the commission for paying the staff salaries, utility bills and stationery, this amount had yet to be released.

However, its Deputy Chief Officer Muhammad Ijaz Khan said the commission had sent a request fpr a budget of Rs140 million to the government so that it can activate all the Child Protection Units in the 26 districts of the province.

He said that Unicef extended the 11 Child Protection Units in the province for one year on the demand of the provincial government.

He said the units remained dysfunctional as Unicef had stopped its financial assistance.

The KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission had been facing a host of problems as it lacks autonomy, service structure of its employees and financial rules.

Official sources said that sometimes the employees are paid salaries after eight months.

On the other hand, the provincial government on the demand of the former wife of PTI Chairman Imran Khan allocated Rs4 billion for the street children for establishment of “Zamong Kor” institute by amending the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act, 2010.

However, under the law it was the mandate of the KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission to run such institutes.

Imran Takar, a child protection activist, told The News that the child abuse cases were increasing day by day, but the government has yet to act responsibly by appointing the CEO of the commission.