Child protection: Why does the law wake up only after a child goes missing?

Home should be the safest place for a child. But lawyer E.N. Bandial, writing in Dawn in her column “When home is hell”, says that in 2026 several children were killed or abused by family members or people they knew. When home itself becomes hell, where does a child go?

A law of reaction, not prevention

Bandial’s central point is that Pakistan’s child-protection laws are built on reaction, not prevention. The Zainab Alert Act only kicks in after a child has already gone missing. Protection authorities have practically no power to intervene in advance inside a home — the law wakes up after the harm is done.

Numbers that disturb

According to the column, around 2,000 cases of child abuse were reported in the first half of 2026, and more than 3,600 in 2025. Those are only the reported cases; the real figure is likely far higher.

What should change?

Bandial asks for three things: mandatory reporting by professionals, child-sensitive investigations, and building on the courts’ “child citizen” jurisprudence. Her argument is plain — a child should be treated as a full citizen, not merely someone deserving protection, and those rights should not end at the front door of the home.

This analysis is based on E.N. Bandial’s column “When home is hell” (Dawn, 7 November 2026).

Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/2042776