ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights Chairperson, Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, criticised officials of the National Commission for the Rights of Child (NCRC) for their lack of progress on matters related to children’s rights.
During a committee meeting on Thursday, Dr. Bhutto and other Senate members expressed their concerns over children not receiving compensation for their work with the commission and the failure to confirm the rules of the Zainab Alert Bill.
The chair of the meeting warned the NCRC director general to improve his performance or face further consequences. Dr. Bhutto also expressed her disappointment over not receiving the rules for the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, which was passed in March 2020.
She stated the rules should have been made within six months after the bill was passed and warned that a privilege motion would be submitted if the rules were not received by January 17.
During the meeting, National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha also brought attention to the poor conditions of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where prisoners were allegedly tortured and 82 children were imprisoned, as revealed by an NCHR report in October last year.
Agha stated the officials at the jail were “very influential” and had connections all the way up, making it difficult to transfer them. She also revealed that drugs were allegedly provided to the prisoners.
Agha highlighted that after the NCHR report, seven officers were sacked, four were suspended, and another 38 were transferred. She mentioned that the high court also ordered a complaint cell to be formed at the jail.
Another member of the committee, Abdul Qadir Mandokhail, stated that drugs were being easily supplied to jails and academic institutions. Agha also spoke of unlicensed mental health centres in the capital, which reportedly detain people against their will.
The NCHR team made seven visits to the Adiala Jail starting from September 21 last year, during which numerous prisoners complained of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment suffered at the hands of jail authorities.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the government in October 2022 to assist the NCHR in the formation of a complaint cell in the jail to curb the prevalent abuses. It also recommended action against Punjab’s inspector general of prisons, after which the police chief dismissed seven officials of Adiala prison after they were found guilty of mistreatment and torture of inmates of the prison.
However, the human rights ministry failed to end the incarceration of the under-trial juvenile prisoners “for lack of funds to submit surety bonds.”
