LAHORE: The grisly incident of rape and murder of six-year-old Zainab of Kasur seems to have brought the Punjab government out of its slumber as officials hint at working on introducing various mechanisms including the famous ‘AMBER Alert system’ to protect children against sexual abuse.

The provincial authorities also plan to create profiles of sex offenders that should compulsorily be available in respective police stations across the province as well as online for the public access.

These measures have been announced amid growing public discontent and distrust of law-enforcement agencies (LEAs), especially the police, who have drawn the flak for their alleged inaction since Kasur’s child abuse case.

Among other measures the government intends taking is installation of CCTV cameras in “hot-spot” regions in the province to monitor suspicious activities. It calls for holding an inquiry into delay in the establishment of the AFIS (Automated Finger Identification System) and DNA databases and fix responsibility.

Plan includes use of famous ‘AMBER Alert system’

Looking towards connecting the state and society to jointly fight paedophilia, the Punjab government acknowledges that children should be educated through carefully designed curriculum besides providing them the support of counselors – a long-standing demand of some people. Parents will also be educated through a series of campaigns on how to protect their children.

The Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) has been asked to present all the cases of child abuse to the Chief Minister Office within a week of these crimes being reported. “This will increase accountability initially and create the right level of pressure on the system, if managed proactively by the bureau,” a source told Dawn.

The government, the source said, was also planning create a special investigation unit in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to identify such criminals. Besides requesting the judiciary to ensure justice is delivered speedily, the government wanted that the decisions regarding convictions should be made public in order to discourage such horrific acts in future, he said.

As the civil society and judiciary’s pressure mounted, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif constituted a 20-member committee on “safeguarding children” chaired and co-chaired by law and school education ministers to holistically review and recommend measures to prevent the increasing trend of child abuse in society. The committee further constituted three sub-committees on curriculum and awareness, AMBER alert, and law/prosecution.

The sub-committee on AMBER alert chaired by Child Protection and Welfare Bureau’s Punjab chairperson Saba Sadiq on Monday last recommended replication of the system (currently being practiced in the USA and Europe) across Punjab.

According to information, the system was conceived in the US after a tragedy occurred in mid-1990s. The alerts are distributed via television stations, cable TVs, radio, social media, emails and text messages.

The committee has planned that Punjab should introduce “Alert” child protection hotline service linked to a dashboard (information system), where all such offenders should be listed. It suggests that the police must profile previously convicted offenders and share their pictures, fingerprints and all relevant details on the dashboard. “Online list of child molesters and sex-offenders must be regularly updated and easily accessible publicly,” the committee recommends.

It also proposes SOPs to immediately know, locate and recover missing child besides making society children-friendly. It suggests that laws be introduced that no child should be left alone in street, parks, shopping centres and other public places besides establishing check-points throughout public spaces, manned 24/7, and specifically used to report crimes that involve sexual abuse.

The sub-committee on curriculum and awareness headed by School Education Department Secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik is proposing revisions in school curriculum to educate children on how to deal with strangers and do self-protection. “It is also required to suggest ways to connect state and society to jointly fight the menace of child abuse.”

The school education department is already said to have been working to introduce supplementary material titled “Pakeeza Zindgi” based on the injunctions of the Holy Quran and Ahadees for the guidance of young children. “The special supplementary material for students will be published with the guidance of ulema,” says Dr Malik.

The schools or clusters of schools will also have counselors who will educate children about safety and appropriate physical contact.

The sub-committee on legislation led by the public prosecution department secretary is reviewing existing laws and Criminal Investigation Procedures with reference to child abduction and abuse.

Additional Chief Secretary Home Azam Suleman Khan has directed the sub-committees to finalise their recommendations along with complete action plan for presentation in the Committee on Safeguarding Children meeting scheduled for Jan 22.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2018