Five committees formed to prevent child abuse, rape cases in Punjab

LAHORE:Home Minister Atta Ullah Tarar presided over a meeting here Tuesday to curb the rising incidents of child abuse and rape cases. The meeting was attended by parliamentarians, representatives of civil society and police officers and lawyers.

The home minister expressed concern over the rising number of rape cases. Atta Ullah Tarar declared a state of emergency across the province in response to the rising incidence of rape. He said that instructions had also been issued to form five committees to prevent such cases. The committees would consist of parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, police officers and lawyers and these committees would make detailed recommendations to prevent such incidents.

In light of these recommendations, the government would pass new laws as well as strictly enforce existing laws. "The increase in such incidents over the last few years is a matter of grave concern," he added. He said that instructions had been issued to the Prosecution Department to provide details of such cases within 48 hours and all the commissioners and administrative officers have been directed to visit such unsafe areas.

He said that awareness campaign was the need of the hour to prevent such incidents and civil society, the media and parents must play their role in preventing such incidents. The minister said that special training would have to be provided to the children and parents in this regard. He said that all persons had to fulfill their responsibility to prevent such incidents so that safe and peaceful environment could be provided for future generations.

Officers assigned duties to curb dengue: Provincial Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique presided over an important meeting of the Provincial Dengue Monitoring Committee at the Civil Secretariat and assigned responsibilities to the departmental secretaries to control dengue.

Salman Rafique and Chief Secretary Punjab Kamran Ali Afzal took a detailed look at the dengue situation in the province during the meeting. All the Commissioners and ECs, including Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, apprised the Provincial Minister and Chief Secretary of the details of the dengue situation.

Provincial Minister Khawaja Salman and Chief Secretary Punjab directed that strict action would be taken on the violation of Dengue SOPs. PIC: Khawaja Salman Rafique and Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan Tuesday visited the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). The minister and the secretary inspected different wards and medical facilities for the patients at the PIC.