September 06, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 23, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 5: The state of child rights in the NWFP in general and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in particular is alarming as non-implementation of laws ensuring these rights and violence is affecting mental and social development of children in these areas, speakers said at a seminar held here on Wednesday.

Expressing concern over growing violence in tribal areas, the speakers said that teenaged boys were being used by extremists for suicide bombings.

Violence is affecting children physically, socially and mentally, said Afrasiab Khattak, provincial president of the Awami National Party.

He regretted that political parties had not been able to safeguard rights of children. He said his party planned to set up a school system to propagate among children the values of non-violence of Bacha Khan.

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child (Sparc) had organised the seminar in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Latif Afridi, a lawyer, called upon the government to change the status of tribal areas so that laws could be implemented to ensure rights. He warned that tribal areas would go into the hands of the Taliban if the government did not extend child rights-related laws to Fata in next two years.

Dr Simin Mehmood Jan, a PML-Q MPA, was of the view that children should not be sent to prisons but kept in detention centres and the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance should be implemented in letter and in spirit. She hoped that the National Assembly in its upcoming session would take up a bill on domestic child labour and legislate to curb it.PPP representative Faqir Hussain said that poverty was the main cause of the present state of children in the NWFP and other parts of the country and added that effective steps should be taken to eliminate poverty.

He suggested that political parties should include the issue of child rights in their manifestos so that they could implement child rights-related laws when they came to power.

Mushtaq Ahmed Khan of Jamaat-i-Islami said that children in conflict zones like Afghanistan and tribal areas were the worst sufferers of violence.

Noor Alam Khan, chairperson of the Voice of the Prisoners, deplored that the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 20O2 and other laws relating to child rights had not been implemented.

He said that children used in various crimes should not be kept in jails but borstal institutions should be set up for their rehabilitation.

He expressed disappointment that parents, police, courts and other government agencies were not playing their due role to protect child rights.

Hafiz Hashmat, Minister for Zakat, Ushr and Social Welfare, counted achievements of the MMA government in setting up schools in the province.