10 July 2004	Saturday	21 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

PESHAWAR, July 9: The Juvenile Justice Network, NWFP, has said that the government should extend the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 to Provincially Administered Tribal Areas and appoint probation officers in Chitral.

According to a press release issued here on Friday by the JJN, a consultation for the enforcement and implementation of the JJSO 2000 was organized in the District Bar Hall, Chitral. Around 50 Bar Council members participated in the consultation.

Arshad Mehmood, the coordinator of the network, giving an overview of the state of juvenile justice in the NWFP said that the federal government promulgated JJSO in 2000 but the children living in Pata and Fata were deprived of the legal relief as the law was not extended to Pata.

The JJN and the Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child have jointly launched a campaign for the extension of the law to Pata and requested the members of the Bar Council Chitral to send letters in support of the campaign to the NWFP governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah.

Anees Jilani, advocate and national coordinator of Sparc, said that it was unfortunate that the law has not yet been implemented in Chitral. The lawyers should frequently visit the Chitral jail and extend free legal assistance to the juveniles, he requested the participants.

The members also urged the government to appoint a probation officer in Chitral as required by the JJSO 2000. The speakers stressed the need to enforce the law so as maximum legal relief could be provided to the juvenile offenders.

Taimur Shah, coordinator Child Rights Committee also said that there was a need to extend JJSO to Pata as the juvenile offenders languishing in prisons were in need of free legal assistance.