PESHAWAR, April 18: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc), an NGO, has expressed concern over the non-extension of laws concerning basic rights of the children to Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata).

The speakers at a one-day consultative workshop by the NGO in Upper Dir said child-related laws, such as the NWFP Compulsory Primary Basic Education Act 1996 and the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, had not been extended to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata), causing problems for the children.

This has deprived children, who formed 50 per cent of the population, of getting education and were being denied access to justice, said the NGO's provincial coordinator Arshad Mahmood.

He said three children were languishing in the local prison which the NGO team visited on Friday. Provision of education being the basic right of every children, he added, must be given attention to by the government.

Another speaker, Sahibzada Laiq, was of the view that the causes of non-enrolment of children in primary schools should be found and measures be taken to minimise the rate of dropouts in schools. There was no girl high school, both in Dir and Kohistan districts, which was the matter of gravest concern in this modern age, he lamented.

Advocate Mohammad Rashid urged close collaboration among the police and all stakeholders to ensure the implementation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000.

Citing a survey conducted by a local, Mujeebur Rehman, he said 29 per cent of the children were involved in child labour in Dir district, with bulk of them working in furniture industry. Poverty, he added, was the main cause of increasing child labour in the district.