ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsman Syed Tahir Shahbaz has asked National Child Commissioner (NCC) Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi to prepare a report on cyber crimes against children along with a plan of action by taking stakeholders on board.

The ombudsman was chairing a meeting held to review progress on special initiatives. Senior law adviser Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmed Khokhar briefed the ombudsman on the progress of prison reforms.

He said six quarterly progress reports had been submitted to the Supreme Court and the seventh one was in progress.

He said Sindh has repealed the outdated prison laws and improved its parole system to control crowding in jails whereas the other three provinces are working on it.

The ombudsman asked to finalise the automation system of all jails with criminal justice departments at the earliest and expedite work on providing missing facilities in jails such as proper seating arrangements for visitors, clean drinking water and sufficient number of toilets.

He said filling of vacant posts of doctors and paramedical staff in jails should also be ensured at the earliest.

The ombudsman also directed to speed up the construction of a jail in Islamabad and get its monthly progress report from the Ministry of Interior. He directed the officials concerned to finalise the seventh quarterly implementation report by August 15 and appoint special commissioners for pension and housing sector to remove obstacles in the areas.

He said as the intensity of Covid-19 pandemic has decreased, the outreach complaint resolution (OCR) programme should be ensured to provide justice to complainants at their doorsteps.

He was informed that more than 60,000 complaints had been disposed of in six months of the current year.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2020