KARACHI: “Increasing crimes of rape and underage marriage are glaring evidence of the failure of our social and criminal justice systems,” said Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan of the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid on Saturday.

“Nothing has changed since the tragic cases of Zainab and Teressa as today we are crying for Khadija and Jessica,” he told a press conference. “Yes, there was a few days of noise, government announcements and then silence.”

He said that the implementation of laws and protection of children were not high priorities of the government.

“We weren’t even able to set up a DNA lab or upscale the number of medico-legal officers so that evidence of such crimes could be properly analysed. There has been no change in the system and response of police that can help in protecting such acts,” he said.

He further added that medico-legal workings and findings need to be completely computerised.

Speaking about the case of nine-year-old Khadija of Railway Colony, , Advocate Awan appealed to the chief minister and the inspector general of police to take notice of the horrific incident and bound the police to make sure of bringing the criminals to justice.

He further said that due to the incompetence and sluggishness of the police, the third criminal could not be apprehended, which is a huge failure.

He said that Madadgaar National Helpline had appealed to the prosecutor general to appoint a special prosecutor for the case. “In fact there should be special prosecutors for all such cases.”

He said that Women Development Minister Syeda Shehla Raza also had a meeting regarding the case but the fact of the matter was that the government should ensure swift justice.

Bringing up then the case of 16-year-old Jessica of Lines Area, who was kidnapped, trafficked and made a victim of child marriage, he said that the police were doing nothing. “They didn’t even register a complaint. Instead, they told the girl’s parents to go and get her themselves.”

He said this is a routine behaviour of the police as this is how they extort money from the helpless parents.

He said that since the role of the police was of utmost importance in these cases, the government should establish task forces of senior police officers at the provincial and district level, who would act as watchdogs for such cases and respond to them immediately.

He further added that the government was bringing a new Police Order though this had also been done before without any positive progress because the police institutions were not strengthened.

“The need is to strengthen the internal structure of the police, implement the new Police Order fully in letter and in spirit, especially through the allocation of resources,” he said.

Speaking about government’s initiatives, he said that there was no role of the Sindh Child Protection Authority evident anywhere. “It is important that this authority be made active and in coordination with other government departments.”

He added that even though the CM had established a child protection committee after the Zainab case last year, the level of interest and priority in child protection here had been such that till date only one meeting of this committee was convened.

“After our reminders, the social welfare minster and law adviser called us and had a meeting with us but nothing else happened,” he said.

He further said that there was no provision for any compensation for such victims of violence and their parents whereas our justice system and the pursuit to justice left the parents financially crippled.

He reminded that Pakistan was a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and such incidents and federal, provincial governments’ disinterest in protection of girls was a question mark on our implementation progress on these conventions.

The grieving parents of the Khadija and Jessica were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2019