The Functional Committee of Human rights on Monday approves the expansion of the Zainab Alert Bill over the entire country.
The bill previously only applied to Islamabad. But as of today it will be applicable all over the country.
PPP Senator Quratulain Marri had objected to the amendment, saying expanding the jurisdiction of the bill to the entire country would be a violation of the 18th Amendment.
The approval comes a day after another horrific case of child abuse emerged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district. Yesterday, police recovered a body of an eight-year-old — who, police suspect, was raped before being killed — from bushes in Saro Khel village.
But what is the Zainab Alert Bill?
The Zainab Alert Bill addresses sexual crimes against children and proposes sentences for such offences. It was passed by the National Assembly in January but was blocked in the Senate after PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan insisted that the bill be sent to the Senate committee first.
The bill — named after nine-year-old Zainab Ansari, who was murdered after being raped in Kasur in 2018 — was tabled by Mazari in June last year after multiple cases of horrific crimes against children emerged, mainly from Kasur.
The bill was first approved in January under the Islamabad jurisdiction and is now being given the jurisdiction of the entire country.
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