ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday reiterated the government’s resolve to provide a safe and secure environment to children, saying the children are future of society and crimes against and sexual exploitation of innocent children is disgraceful and regrettable for the whole society.
Chairing a high-level meeting in connection with stopping the crimes against children, especially their sexual exploitation, the Prime Minister observed that sexual crimes against children have witnessed an alarming increase in the era of modern technology.
He said that due to social factors and various compulsions, parents avoid reporting such crimes to police or filing cases due to which criminals involved are not apprehended. He said government will take all possible steps to provide protection to children.
The meeting decided to establish a national database in the interior ministry on criminals with particular focus on child offenders. This database will be available to all law enforcing agencies at federal and provincial levels.
Imran Khan directed the Ministry of Human Rights to finalize the national action plan to stop crimes against children in consultation and assistance with interior ministry and provincial governments in order to launch national crackdown on child pornography as well as assigning responsibilities to all stakeholders with timelines.
The Prime Minister also directed to strengthen the cybercrime wing of FIA to speedily dispose of complaints.
Imran Khan instructed to present recommendations under national action plan to make the laws more effective in order to provide safe environment to children as well as giving exemplary punishments to people involved in crimes against children.
He also emphasized that civil society and especially media needs to play a vibrant role for child protection and to save them from sexual crimes by raising awareness of child rights and sensitizing the parents and communities.
The Prime Minister was apprised that a special monitoring cell has been established in Punjab to keep an eye on crimes against children. The meeting was informed that ‘Apna Bacha’ application has been prepared to immediately report the lost children to all IGs and senior officials.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari, Special Assistant on Accountability Shehzad Akbar, Secretary Interior Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, provincial inspectors general of police (IGPs) and senior officers of the Ministry of Interior and provincial home departments.
