ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Thursday urged the society including government and media to play their effective role against child abuses besides stressing measures for uplift of the destitute children by providing them equal opportunities.
Addressing an event held by Pakistan Baitul Mal in connection with Universal Children Day, the president said Naya Pakistan was aimed at building a society where every child was given equal opportunities, be it education, health or employment.
Held at Pakistan Thalassaemia Center here, the event was also attended by First Lady Samina Alvi, Managing Director PBM Aun Abbas, Special Secretary Cabinet Division Shaista Sohail and a huge number of children coming from orphanages called Sweet Homes from various cities.
The event featured the salutation parade by the children, their performance on the themes of child abuses, child labour, and on the mystic song ‘tere rang rang’ originally sung by Abraul Haq.
The president, who earlier also visited various sections of the Thalassaemia Centre, lauded the efforts of the PBM for funding the treatment of the Thalassaemia patients. However he advocated for steps to prevent the disease through enforcing the already passed legislation for pre-marital medical test for the disease.
He said the religious scholars should consider the incorporation of a clause in marriage deed (nikah nama) questioning the would-be partners whether they had gone through the thalessaemia test.
The president said the orphans had a commonality with Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who was born orphan and that He had also strictly asked the followers to protect the rights of the parentless children besides being compassionate with them.
He said the PBM could not carry out the gigantic task of caring all orphans and child abuse victims solely rather the society would have to play a role to discourage child labour and assist the destitute children to help them live a respectable life.
President Alvi said after assisting them in education, the society would have to provide them equal opportunities to get jobs and earn sustenance. He viewed that a just and indiscriminate system provided the foundation to a vibrant society and criticized the dearth of such moral values in the society.
Terming the children as little flowers, he said the massacre of children of Army Public School had hurt everyone and the tragic incident had prompted the society as well as the government to launch a full-fledge and decisive war against terrorism.
Appreciating the children’s performance on child abuse and methods for their protection against harassers, the president urged media to disseminate the message to the masses. Even then, he said the role of the parents could not be ruled out who were supposed to be vigilant all the time.
Recalling the hosting of Mehfil-e-Milad at Presidency by First Lady and spouse of Prime Minister Imran Khan with the children recently, he said the involvement and interaction with the children was an effective de-stressing factor.
In her comments, Shaista Sohail said the provision of quality education, healthcare and food was children’s fundamental right and responsibility of the government as well as the society.
She spoke high of PBM’s performance for supporting education and treatment of even serious disease to the poor patients.
She told the audience that PBM was running above 150 women protection centers and 159 centers to discourage child abuses in the country.
MD Baitul Mal Aun Abbas said the organization supported the children up 12 years of age at sweet homes which followed their placement in Sweet Villa in Karachi.
He said there were 1.2 million street children, 3.7 million child laborers, 2 million child slaves in the country and around 1400 children lost their lives during last three years in Thar due to malnutrition.
He said PBM was running 160 schools, 150 women training centers, 38 sweet homes housing 3600 children and spent Rs 2 billion on medical treatment to poor patients last year.
He said the PBM was expanding sweet homes and cash grant networks in smaller cities and establishing six new thalessaemia centers. The organization would spend around Rs 450 million for welfare of special persons during next five years.
The PBM was about to launch a mobile APP to keep the applicants updated about the status of their applications, he added.
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