PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the Kasur children abuse scandal and demanded the Punjab government hand down exemplary punishment to culprits.

Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan People’s Party tabled the resolution supported by both the treasury and opposition benches saying the house condemns the serial child abuse in Kasur district of Punjab.

“This assembly demands that the federal government issue directives to the Punjab government to award stern action to the people involved in the heinous crime of child abuse and play due role in taking the case to its logical conclusion,” read the resolution.

The resolution was signed by provincial ministers Inayatullah Khan, Mohammad Atif Khan and Imtiaz Qureshi and opposition members, including Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP, Shah Hussain Khan of JUI-F, Aurangzeb Nalotha of PML-N, Bakht Baidar of QWP and Akbar Hayat of PML-N.

After recitation from the Holy Quran, Nighat Orakzai took the floor to start a debate on the Kasur child abuse scandal.

She said it was so shameful that the culprits first abused children and then blackmailed their parents.

The MPA also blasted the Punjab police for failing to stop the serial child abuse and revealing the names of the children abused.

Passes bill to give legal cover to dispute resolution councils

The opposition members and several ministers took the floor one by one to condemn the Kasur scandal and sympathised with the relevant families.

Later, the house passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Order (Amendment) Bill 2015 for giving legal cover to the dispute resolution councils, whose functioning was stayed by the Peshawar High Court few months ago.

Through the amendment, a new section, 168-A, has been incorporated in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Order 2002 for the functioning of DRCs.

The new section states, “The Provincial Police Officer for out of court amicable settlement of petty nature cases may constitute dispute resolution councils at district, sub-division or police station level, which shall consist of such number of members and shall conduct its business in such a manner as may be prescribed.”

It further states the DRCs already constituted by the provincial police officer would be deemed to have been validly constituted under the order and that all actions taken, decisions made or order passed by them would be deemed to have validly taken, made or passed under the order.

Under the amended law, the cases of petty nature include those of small, minor, and of less or inconsiderable importance and affecting amity in the society or any cause pleading towards provocation, which may lead to a criminal offence.

Earlier, the lawmakers raised the issue of the excessive power outages across the province and public outrage caused by them.

The ministers and other lawmakers showed unity against Pesco and said millions of rupees had been paid to Pesco for installation of electricity transformers and poles over the years but the people continued to be subjected to prolonged loadshedding.

They said Pesco officials first facilitated power theft and then subjected people to excessive power cuts over high line losses.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, who made an appearance in the house after many days, told the house that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been receiving 10 per cent less than due share in electricity since 2008.

He said the federal government and Wapda had promised to reduce loadshedding hours in the province ‘up to satisfactory level.

The chief minister urged lawmakers to discourage power theft in their respective constituencies.

“Our lives will be easy if our working relationship with Pesco streamlines,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015

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