ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary body on Monday expressed serious concern over the poor performance of law enforcement agencies for failing to stop the rapidly growing cases of rape and sexual harassment over a period of time.

The apprehension was shown during the meeting of the National Assembly Standing committee on Human Rights, which was presided over by MNA Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar.

Expressing concern over the poor performance of LEAs for failing to stop the rapidly growing cases of rape and sexual harassment, the committee directed that government functionaries may take stringent measures to ensure the proper implementation of laws and develop proper liaison with other ministries/departments responsible for the protection of human rights to produce the desired results.

The committee discussed the cases of brutal killing of Hina Javed and Ayat Noor and harassment case of Dr Ayesha and expressed annoyance that culprits could not be penalised due to criminal negligence of the law enforcement agencies and directed that the interior ministry may pursue the cases effectively in order to put culprits behind the bars.

Earlier, the committee was briefly apprised about the investigation process of Hina Javed and Ayat Noor murder cases and harassment case of Dr Ayesha and requested that local parliamentarians of the place of incident may coordinate with the law enforcement agencies to ensure transparent investigation of the said cases. The meeting was attended by the MNAs and senior officers from concerned ministries/departments.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026