KARACHI, Feb 14: Officials of the Sindh Social Welfare Department, Sindh Baitul Maal, the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), the Sindh Police, the UNICEF and NGOs including the Azad Foundation in a meeting on Monday pledged financial and technical assistance for the rehabilitation of the street-living children (SLC) in Karachi.

Participants of the meeting held here at a local hotel, lauded the role of the Azad Foundation for setting up a drop-in-centre for SLC and urged the government to allocate pieces of land or vacant government buildings for the establishment of more such centres.

The objective of the meeting was to develop understanding on this issue in addition to develop a framework for intervention for the SLC. Ms Farah Iqbal of the Azad Foundation disclosed that the number of SLC had rose to 14,000 in Karachi alone, of which 90 per cent were involved in solvent abuse.

Over 57 per cent were involved in criminal activities or had criminal record, 63 per cent were found to be sexually abused while only 39 per cent SLC knew about HIV/AIDS.

Sindh Additonal Chief Secretary Syed Anwar Haider in his inaugural address said that the government alone could not help these children. He called upon the private sector especially NGOs and donor agencies to come forward and help in the rehabilitation of these children.

Lauding the efforts of the Azad Foundation for helping and gathering information about the SLC, he said it would definitely help policy makers and other institutions to device more effective policies to overcome this problem.

It was decided that a network be established between the government and private sectors to protect and rehabilitate these children. Director Baitul Mal, responding to a query said the department was willing to provide the private sector with all the financial support, adding that there was no shortage of funds for the purpose.

Representatives of the ANF Sindh and the Sindh Police also assured their department's assistance in the rehabilitation of the SLC provided they were properly approached. Other participants of the meeting stressed the need for creating database of SLC in Pakistan to make proper efforts for their rehabilitation. -PPI