SPARC Forms CRC in Balakot

In an effort to increase outreach to children in difficult circumstances, SPARC has established a Child Rights Committee in Balakot.

The CRC will focus on education, children in jails as well as bonded labor. It will send recommendations and suggestions to SPARC head office for interventions.

SPARC has been working in Balakot since the earthquake that hit the area in 2005. It was the first organization to set up a Fun Center for children, who had lost everything, to help them get over the trauma of death and destruction.

Girls’ School Set on Fire in Quetta

QUETTA: August 4: Unidentified assailants set fire to furniture, records, a computer lab and other valuables at a private girls’ school in Khilji Colony, Sariab Road in the early hours of August 3, police said.

Assailants entered the school and used petrol to start fires inside the rooms, setting ablaze the furniture, computers, and other valuables.

They also broke doors of the classrooms and threw several computers into a water tank on the school premises. There was no watchman at the school.

It is the first time that a girls’ school has come under attack in the city. No group has so far claimed responsibility. A case has been registered at Sariab police station.

Swat Militants Burn Down 48 Girls Schools during 2007-08

MINGORA, August 4: Authorities in Swat said that 48 girls’ schools had been burned down or blown up during 2007-08 and many schools had been closed. Five girls’ schools and a government office were set ablaze in Swat on August 3 while security forces claimed to have killed 15 militants during an operation in the Sijband area.

Intensifying their campaign against educational institutions, the militants torched the five schools in Gali Bagh, Taligram and Malam Jaba. The office of the agriculture development project was also torched.

Study Proposed on Jirgas-for-Juveniles Option

KARACHI: June 19: UNICEF wants to conduct a study on the ‘Access to Informal Justice System in Pakistan’ in collaboration with the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP).
The study is aimed at finding an alternate justice system for juvenile prisoners. The study will assess the possibility of recommending the traditional ‘jirga’ and ‘panchayat’ system as an alternative, in order to protect juvenile offenders from facing the formal criminal justice system.

“A majority of the cases involving petty crimes are decided through the informal justice system prevalent in the country, therefore, a study on the ‘Access to Informal Justice System in Pakistan’ will be arranged,” the LJCP stated in an official letter addressed to the registrar of the Sindh High Court. An assessment will be carried out on the formal judicial process to explore whether the judiciary resorts to diverting the child away from the proceedings of the criminal justice system or engages alternative dispute resolution methods for protecting the child from facing the system.

Four Minor Workers Die in Fireworks Explosion

LAHORE: June 24: Four child laborers were killed and three injured when explosives went off in the fireworks factory in Lahore.

The children were aged between 10-14 years. The explosion took place despite the fact that the Punjab government has banned the business.

The owner went into hiding to avoid arrest. Fireworks material was lying in the factory’s courtyard where children were present. It caught fire due to unknown reasons. Seven children received severe burns and were rushed to the hospital while the condition of others was reported to be critical.