Senate chairman takes notice of Kasur incident

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani Wednesday expressed shock and anguish over the gory act of rape and murder of a girl in Kasur and referred the matter to the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights.

The House committee has summoned an emergency meeting on January 17 at Lahore Civil Secretariat to deliberate upon the incident, which shocked every segment of the society. Particularly, on the social media front, while the incident was vehemently condemned, queries were asked as to why the authorities failed to punish perpetrators involved in such blood-curdling acts in the past. However, several politicians, who are otherwise quite active on social media, attached hardly any importance to it or showed their concern upon it.

The Senate Secretariat issued a statement by Raza Rabbani, who expressed his anguish and deep concern over the tragedy and said it reflected the tumbling standards of morality in the society. He emphasised that to arrest such trend all segments of the society would have to work collectively and contended that there was also a dire need to strictly implement the laws in this connection.

Raza Rabbani recalled that before this tragedy, there had been such incidents against children in the past as well in Kasur against which the Senate had not only adopted a unanimous resolution but also expressed apprehensions that the matter would be pushed under the carpet after remaining in media for some days. Therefore, he said, it was a need for the government to take long-term measures so that such incidents were never repeated in future.

Rabbani directed the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights to thrash out a line of action on this issue, involving the concerned departments as well as the

government. The Senate chairman also tossed a proposal that a permanent institution might be established, suggesting to the government to carry out legislation. He underlined the need for legislation on halting smuggling of children. Rabbani was of the view that all the laws relating to crimes against females and children should be strictly implemented and the perpetrators be awarded stringent punishment.