It was really shocking to see yet
new allegations on Pakistan by being included in the Child Soldiers Prevention
Act (CSPA). No Pakistani can join any civil or defence services including Army
unless one attains the age of 18 .Any Citizen of Pakistani applying for Pak
Army must have a computerised National Identity Card which by law/the NADRA Act
cannot be issued unless is 18 year and above. I failed to understand that even
though our own law is very stringent, how come without examining our law being
a sovereign State the United States has thought of applying the Child Soldiers
Protection Act of the United States on Pakistan, which international law
permits to slap such fabricated tales. It looks clear that the USA government
response is signalling some more negative policies towards Pakistan.
The United States has added
Pakistan and Turkey to the CSPA list (Child Soldiers Prevention Act) that
includes Afghanistan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Iraq, Libya,
Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, and Yemen.
The publication of the report did not involve consultation from any state
institution by the US and no details were provided of the basis on which the conclusion was reached. The United States must have at least taken the views of
the Pakistan Government before pushing us into CSPA. The inclusion of Pakistan
in the list means that it wouldn’t be able to further get licenses for direct
commercial sales of military equipment, cannot be a part of several US
programmes, including international military education and training, foreign
military financing, excess defence articles, and peacekeeping operations. It
means the process of imposing restrictions on Pakistan is already in action.
It is unfortunate that despite
our best cooperation with the USA it has entirely forgotten the role of
Pakistan in the war on terror—we have sacrificed 70,000 people and lost $150
billion in this war.
It seems that the USA wants
something in Pakistan and perhaps it is yet an arm-twisting technique to put
pressure on Pakistan and apparently it is connected to the Afghan issue. The
term child soldier means any person under 18 years of age who takes a direct
part in hostilities or who has been compulsorily recruited into governmental
armed forces, police, or other security forces. It also means any person under
15 years of age who has been voluntarily recruited into governmental armed
forces, police, or other security forces or any person under 18 years of age
who has been recruited or used in hostilities by armed forces distinct from the
armed forces of a state. It also includes any such person who is serving in any
capacity, including in a support role, such as a cook, porter, messenger,
medic, guard, or sex slave. I reinforce the point of the government of Pakistan
that these assertions are baseless and motivated. The age limit for some civilian
armed personnel is from 17 years to 22 years and 17 years to 23 years for
serving Armed Forces Personnel except the army as army soldiers have given the
age limit of 17 to 25 years. For those who have passed four years BS or BA Hons
or BBA, the age limit is from 17 to 24 years. While there is currently no
conscription in Pakistan, government armed forces recruit volunteers at the age
of 16, the UK is the only country in Europe that routinely recruits minors
into the armed forces. Worldwide, 134 countries have prohibited the practice.
37 countries recruit from the age of 17. The UK is one of only 20 countries in
the world to recruit 16-year-olds. There is, however, no evidence of deployment
before the age of 18 in Pakistan. The government has signed but not ratified
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC-OP-CAC)
on the involvement of children in armed conflict. Let me assure the American
Administration that we neither have any 14-year-old child as army personnel nor
our law permits anybody under-aged employment in Pak Army.
The article was published in The Nation on July 6, 2021, link to original article: https://nation.com.pk/06-Jul-2021/the-greylist-to-an-alleged-pak-child-army
No comments:
Post a Comment