HYDERABAD, Jan 4 The director of the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, Sajjad Ahmed, has said that the government was giving priority to protection of child rights and a bill in this regard would be tabled in parliament in a month.

He was responding to queries about the delays in submitting the Child Protection Bill in parliament during a media workshop on “Child rights and child protection” organised by the commission at a local hotel.

Blaming the previous government for the delay in the bill, Mr Ahmed said that the present setup soon after coming into power had taken a serious no ice of the issue and the relevant authorities had been directed to submit the bill to the parliament within a month and was also keen for its effective implementation.

The first session of the workshop was presided over by the joint secretary of the social welfare and special education department, M. Ashraf Ali Khan, and the closing session by Hyderabad regional director, information, Imdad Ali Keerio.

Representatives of electronic and print media from Hyderabad and other districts of Sindh attended the workshop and took part in deliberations and presented their recommendations for the protection of child rights and the role of media in this regard.

Mr Khan was of the view that media had emerged as an effective source for creating awareness among the masses; therefore, it had become imperative to get the journalists involved in programmes launched by the government for the betterment of the common man.

He said that the purpose of this workshop was to educate and sensitize journalists on the issue of child rights protection as envisaged in the constitution of the country and other legislations.

Mr Keerio stressed the need for launching a two-way communication system. Besides, he said that people-oriented programmes from bottom to top could prove to be more successful.

He said that any programme having involvement of three or more than three organisations in its implementation must be supervised by establishing an integrated monitoring organisation within the project to ensure its scheduled implementation.

He said that this system would not only yield maximum output but also utilize resources efficiently.

Community Development EDO Aijaz Hussain Talpur said that laws and limits with reference to child rights protection must be scrutinised in the light of Islamic laws before finalising the same so that any confrontation could be avoided.

Experts and representatives from the commission, Safdar Raza, Pervez Tufail, Zulfiqar Jhamat, Rana Asif Habib and Sabir Michael, said that Pakistan was among the first 20 countries to ratify the United Nations Convention on Rights of Child (UNCRC) in 1990 and added that it was obligatory to submit periodic reports on implementation of the UNCRC to the UN committee on child rights after every five years.

They were of the view that the UN appreciated positive development in the area of human rights in Pakistan and had recommended for development of training programmes on child protection.

In order to create awareness among the masses, which according to them was very essential for public participation in the programme, such type of workshops were necessary.

They urged the journalists not only to identify but also write articles, reports on violation of child rights and also to advocate protection of child rights.

They also observed that there was a need for bringing behavioural change among the masses and said that each individual and organisation was equally responsible for the protection of child rights.

They particularly urged the education, police, the law and the labour departments to play their due roles to protect child rights.

BISE CHAIRMAN In pursuance of a notification issued by competent authority, Professor Dr. Fazle-Haq, a retired BPS-20 officer, has taken over the charge as chairman, Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Hyderabad, on contract basis for two years from Dec 26, 2008, relieving Abdul Khalique Shaikh, of the acting/additional charge.