PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday supported a resolution in the provincial assembly to frame specific laws and procedures regarding the adoption of children in the province.

Member of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party Nighat Yasmin Orakzai moved the resolution seeking a legal mechanism and cover for the protection of adoptees, especially shelterless children.

The treasury and opposition benches supported the resolution in the session, which was presided over by Deputy Speaker Mahmood Jan.

Ms Orakzai complained that the province didn’t have any specific law for adoptions.

She said verbal agreements were made between adopters and hospitals or private child protection bodies, while the adopted children were handed over to the families without the checking of their financial and social backgrounds.

The lawmaker regretted that the records of adoptees weren’t maintained at the official level and that disputes and other social issues surfaced between children and their adopters.

PPP member tables resolution in assembly complaining about disputes, other issues of adoptees and families

She said the government should make laws to regulate the children’s adoption.

Labour minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said the government would make laws to regulate adoptions.

He admitted that the government didn’t have the data of adoptees and adopters.

The minister said the matter would be referred to the cabinet.

During the question hour, special assistant to the chief minister on information Kamran Bangash said the government departments received a total of 7,703 requests under the law on right to information during the last seven years seeking different information.

He said 6,970 applications had so far been processed and 733 were pending with the Information Commission.

The CM’s aide said women had submitted 464 complaints under the Right to Information Act.

He said majority of the pending complaints were related to the higher education, health, and elementary and secondary education departments.

Minister Shaukat Yousafzai informed the house that 365 micro-hydel stations were installed in the remote areas of the province, while 24 schemes were technically not feasible.

He said the government would install more such stations in the hilly areas of the province to ensure the supply of cheap electricity to the people. The project was launched in the year 2014-15.

Responding to another question, the minister said a committee had been formed to prepare service rules for nurses. He said a Peshawar nursing college was being upgraded.

MPA Inayatullah urged the government to increase the number of nurses in its hospitals.

He said there was a shortage of one million nurses in the country.

“The provincial government should establish new schools and colleges for nurses instead of medical colleges,” he said.

Speaking on a point of order, the opposition MPAs asked the government to address the ‘genuine’ demands of the people of the merged tribal districts.

They said residents of South Waziristan tribal district had staged a protest demonstration outside the assembly’s building demanding compensation for their houses damaged during military operations.

MPA Hafiz Hassamdin, who belongs to South Waziristan, complained that the government hadn’t begun the survey of damaged houses in some areas of the district causing resentment among the affected people.

He said the affected people staged a sit-in protest in Tank for three months before moving to Peshawar.

Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the government had distributed Rs29 billion to the affected people of tribal districts as compensation for their houses damaged during the times of militancy. He said the process of compensation payment would be expedited.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021