Punjab to adopt Zainab Alert Bill to ensure children safety

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided in principle to adopt Zainab Alert Bill to ensure safety and wellbeing of children in the province.

This was announced by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in a tweet on Saturday.

He said child abuse cases are always traumatic to hear and are the government’s biggest concern.

The chief minister said: “This is another leap in our mission of providing our children with safest possible environment.”

We have principally decided to adopt #ZainabAlertBill to ensure safety and wellbeing of children in Punjab.

Child abuse cases are always traumatic to hear and are our biggest concern. This is another leap in our mission of providing our children with safest possible environment.

— Usman Buzdar (@UsmanAKBuzdar) January 25, 2020

Minutes after the tweet by the chief minister, Planning Minister Asad Umar took to Twitter to thank him for his “immediate positive response” to the request of Amin Ansari Sahib, father of Zainab, which he said he had communicated to the province’s chief executive.

Thank you @UsmanAKBuzdar for your immediate positive response to the request of amin ansari sahib, father of zainab, which i had communicated to you yesterday. https://t.co/wg42sft2gn

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) January 25, 2020

Earlier, Jan 10, the National Assembly had unanimously passed the Zainab Alert bill introduced by NA Standing Committee on Human Rights, which defines the law for the response and recovery of missing children.

The government and opposition joined hands to unanimously pass Zainab Alert bill which paves the way for penalising culprits in crimes against children from 10-14 years to life imprisonment.