The National Assembly on Friday January 10th, endorsed the Zainab Alert, Recovery and Response Bill, 2019, precisely two years after nine-year-old Zainab Ansari, an assault murder victim, was found in Kasur in 2018.
The bill will pave the way for setting up Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Agency (ZARRA), where child missing cases will be reported and it will generate an automatic alert. It will likewise introduce reaction and recuperation system of missing kids to prevent incidents like homicide of Zainab.
During the NA session, Human Rights Minister, Shireen Mazari presented the bill. Both the government and opposition unanimously passed the bill. The bill will now be sent to the Senate. Under the bill, a helpline will be established to report missing children while an agency for issuing an alert for missing children, will also be set up. The bill has proposed death sentence, life imprisonment or rigorous imprisonment for a term for people who abduct children. The bill also proposes taking action against police authorities who cause pointless postponement in investigating such cases.
The powers and functions of (ZARRA) include the activation of alerts at the federal capital level whenever there is a report about a missing or abducted child. These alerts will include information on the physical characteristics of the missing or abducted child as well as any other data that will help in the child’s identification.
The proposed authority will also coordinate with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for issuance of Zainab Alert SMSes and MMSes, and with the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to run tickers on television channels or any other available medium.
It also envisions the setting up of a nationwide telephonic toll-free hotline number where any person may report a missing or abducted child. It also calls for the maintenance of an online database both in the National Commission of the Rights of the Child (NCRC) and the division concerned of every reported incident of a missing or abducted child.
