Thursday, February 24, 2011

Friendship under a Peepal tree

The peoples of Pakistan and India (residing along both the sides of the Sialkot) have unanimously declared more than one century old Peepal Tree as a “Friendship Tree”. This tree is located at the Zero Point in Sucheetgarh-Sialkot, here. The half of this tree is in India and half in Pakistan.

This ancient tree was still providing the shadows to divided people of both the sides, as the divided families from both sides often gathered there at the Zero Point near Sucheetgarh-Sialkot Sector with the high hopes of durable peace between the two nuclear neighbours Pakistan and India. On every Sunday, the peoples of Pakistan and India are usually gathered under the shadows of this friendship tree at Zero Point and express their sentiments regarding friendship and peace between the two countries. They also exchange gifts and sweets amongst them.

They were hopeful that said friendship tree would definitely promote friendship and peace between the two countries, saying that this tree leaves the shadows of friendship and peace to the both ends. The calm of the hundreds of the different kinds of birds reveals that there was complete lull, calm and peace there along the Sialkot Working Boundary.

The tree welcomes the people from both sides, who come there with open minds and open hearts as well.

The security officials of Pakistan and India told that a joint name plate of “Friendship Tree” would soon be affixed on this ancient tree, as half of this tree was in Indian side and half in Pakistani side.

Government must give priority to Child Rights: District Coordinator SPARC CRC Sialkot Muhammad Arslan Khan has called upon the Government and parliamentarians to work for the protection of children’s rights. Noting the increase in child labor, incidents of sexual abuse and violence against children, he termed the situation “very alarming” and demanded that the government take notice.

Talking to the newsmen here today, he said that although Pakistan ratified the UN Convention on the rights of the child in 1990, the rights of the country’s children continue to be violated.

He added that child labor and trafficking, violence in the home, school and workshop, sexual abuse, child marriages and the handing over of under age girls in dispute settlements are a few examples of direct transgressions against child rights that take place virtually every day across the country. Also pressing is the issue of juvenile offenders: the juvenile Justice System Ordinance was formulated in 2000 but the codes of conduct laid out therein have never been properly implemented.

In reality, minors falling foul of the law rarely benefit from there rights, as specified by the ordinance, to state-provided legal council or alternative sentencing measures. [Source]

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