TAXILA: The district police have launched an awareness campaign about child protection under which they will deliver lectures in main mosques.

The Rawalpindi Potohar Town SP Syed Ali while talking to newsmen here on Monday said under the campaign the SHOs of various police stations of the Potohar division had been directed to visit main mosques of their respective jurisdiction at prayer times and deliver lectures on child protection and apprise the people especially parents about different methods to save their children from abuse.

“We have to take meaningful steps for the protection of children and for this purpose an awareness campaign have been launched in mosques,” he said.

He said in the second phase police officers would visit schools. He said under this strategy, the respective SHOs would visit different schools in their areas and instruct the parents and the teachers to keep an eye on extracurricular activities of children. He said these steps had been taken by police would play pivotal role in creating awareness among students as well as enabling them to respond in a better way in case of any untoward situation.

“The respective SDPOs will also be responsible to implement these directives and ensure compliance,” Mr Ali said.

Expressing concern over the recent increase in crimes of child abuse, Mr Ali admitted that these days, the crimes like sexual abuse of children, kidnapping and blackmailing had surged.

He said because of the effective measures taken by the Rawalpindi police, all incidents of sexual abuse of children, kidnapping and blackmailing had been investigated and culprits arrested.

Responding to a question, he said the purpose of the exercise was to engage all the segments of society to help eliminate child abuse.

Responding to another question, he said police accorded top priority to checking child abuse cases and ensuring their protection.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2019