ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi called for greater collaborations among civil society, non-governmental organisations and national and provincial government departments to raise awareness about issue of abducted and missing children.

He said that steps should be taken to ensure implementation of Zainab Alert Response and Recovery Act (ZARRA) 2020 throughout country to protect and safeguard our children.

Chairing meeting regarding implementation of ZARRA 2020 at Aiwan-e-Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in press release President emphasised need for awareness at grassroots levels about ZARRA Act and responsibility of police officials to ensure timely registration of complaints and FIRs about missing children.

He called for raising awareness about ZARRA helpline '1099' among people to timely register complaints. He said that response time of local police to missing children's complaints should be improved and they should take prompt action to find missing children as first 24 hours after child's disappearance were critical for their recovery.

He called for increasing cooperation among civil society and government departments to protect and recover missing children, besides providing psycho-social counselling to affected children and their families.

During meeting, president highlighted need for further improving implementation of ZARRA Act by identifying gaps and shortcomings in its implementation at provincial and district levels.

He said that after taking input and advice from civil society and NGOs, corrective measures should be taken to bring about improvements. He said ZARRA's coverage should be extended to entire country by allocating adequate resources and creating awareness among people.

He called for ensuring better management of alerts and complaints about missing children on 1099 helpline, PM Citizen Portal and ZARRA app by ensuring 24/7 service to complainants.

Secretary Ministry of Human Rights Allah Dino Khowaja, Director General ZARRA, representatives of different NGOs working for children's rights and senior government officials attended meeting.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 11 2023

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