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192 scheme of the Punjab Education Foundation. He said that the provincial
government would formulate a comprehensive policy to provide education
and impart skills trainings to special children. Six projects were approved for
the Sindh Special Education Department under the Annual Development
Program 2012-2013. The projects dealt with raising awareness on disabilities,
training of teachers and upgrading of existing educational facilities.
Children
Child marriages
No significant change was observed in the social attitudes and official
policies towards child marriages. The customs of vani and swara continued
throughout the year and little action was taken against the perpetrators despite
the passing of Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment)
Act, 2011 the previous year. The electronic media highlighted around 30 cases
of underage forced marriage, out of which five were cases of swara and 12 of
vani, the majority of which took place in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In
May 2012, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan took serious note of
the practice of giving girls away in marriage to settle disputes on the intervention
of a jirga or panchayat. The LJCP suggested amendments to the relevant laws
to award rigorous punishment to those who abet, instigate, demand or receive
a female in marriage as Badal-i-Sulha (in exchange for compromise). The
Commission proposed that the punishment for such action should be extended
to a maximum of 14 years, but must not be less than 10 years, along with a
fine.
A report by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), titled ‘Marrying
too Young: End Child Marriage’, noted that the number of child marriages was
on the rise globally and might increase by 14 percent if the trends persisted.
Faisalabad: Sometimes child marriages were stopped as well.