'Concrete policy sought to end child labour'

Speakers at a seminar on "Child Labour" have called on the government to take effective steps for elimination of child labour and suggested that a concrete policy should be formulated with consultation of relevant stakeholders to address this issue. The seminar was jointly organised by Provincial Child Labour Unit (PCLU) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) on other day. Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) women legislator, Meraj Humayun Khan was the chief guest.
While speaking on the occasion, Meraj Humayun said that the efforts were being made with consultation of relevant stakeholders to address this issue over the years. She said that increasing child labour in this country and province can be ascribed to population explosion and faulty education system.
She attributed that the booming population was a major reason behind increasing poverty. The province development budget stood at Rs 6 billion in 1990s and now it stands at Rs 100 billion, she informed. She further said: "Child marriages and suicide bombers are worst examples of child labour prevalent in Pakistani society." Dr Ahsan Shah, Additional Secretary Labour Department in his remarks said that civil society, government and media can work together to solve this issue. He said that presently many international and local organisations were working to solve this issue.