ISLAMABAD, Aug 27: A civil society organisation on Wednesday expressed its concerns over the sharp increase in the number of children being recruited for militancy and violence by religious seminaries, gangsters, political factions, tribal chiefs, various sects and national movements to wage a war inside the country.

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) has urged the state machinery to make concerted efforts to check the surge in the use of children in militancy by various vested interests.

The organisation held a discussion on the issue of the use of children in militancy here on Wednesday in which regional experts, civil society members and journalists covering the war on terror participated.

The discussion dissected one of the dangerous trends taking roots in the poverty-stricken Pakistan in general and its most vulnerable tribal areas and Balochistan province in particular.

Sparc’s National Manager Promotion Fazila Gulrez gave a presentation on the emerging trend of child militancy and gave an overview of the rapid assessment carried out in Karak, Landi Kotal and Khyber Agency, the conflict-torn areas where children are rapidly falling into the hands of extremists and are being used as suicide bombers or militants.

Sparc’s Executive Director Qindeel Shujaat said despite spending a bigger chunk of the national budget on defence-related spending, Pakistan was unable to provide security to its people and save children from falling prey to militancy and conflicts of all sorts.

He said the videos showing children, recruited by various militant groups, chopping heads of people were a grim picture of where Pakistan was heading as a society and nation. He said it was ominous and what one could expect was just the worst to follow.

The participants said lack of education was one of the few main factors that pushed children into the hands of criminals and extremists.

They said the Pakistani government must prioritise education in order to discourage this dangerous trend and ensure peace and stability in the country.

According to Unicef, over two million children have died in conflicts, six million have been maimed and more than a million orphaned over the last 10 years. There are about 300,000 child soldiers globally fighting adult wars.

However, there are no figures to show the number of child militants fighting in the name of Islam.

Asiya Arif of Sparc gave a presentation on the use of children in tribal feuds. She said tribal children had born in a conflict environment and region that had been a stage to the cold war politics and crimes of all sorts.

Sparc is of the view that children working in hotels, auto workshops, homes, mining, bangle factories, carpet weaving, scavenging in the rubbish, vending on the streets and farms are among the popular sights of Pakistan and many of these children could be potential militants because of their poor living conditions and vulnerability.

The organisation says the government is duty bound to stop this grave violation of child rights and take effective steps to combat the growing involvement of children in militancy at every level.

Whether it is in the tribal areas in Sindh or in the Northern Areas or in cities such as Karachi, children should be kept out of the war on terror at every cost, it concluded.