In a significant move to bolster child protection services across the province, the Chairperson of the Child Protection Bureau (CPB), Sarah Ahmed, along with a Punjab Assembly member, conducted a detailed visit to the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) headquarters in Lahore on Monday.
Review of Tech-Driven Safety Initiatives
The delegation was formally received by PSCA Chief Operating Officer Mustansar Feroz. During the tour, the officials inspected the core operational facilities of the authority. The focus remained on the innovative Virtual Centre for Child Safety and the Virtual Women Police Station, both pivotal projects leveraging technology for public security.
PSCA management provided the visitors with comprehensive briefings on the authority's operational framework, its advanced technological infrastructure, and overall performance metrics. The presentations emphasized PSCA's crucial role in enhancing public safety through modern, technology-based solutions.
MoU and Centralized Database for Missing Children
Sarah Ahmed expressed strong appreciation for the initiative of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif in establishing the Virtual Centre for Child Safety. She described it as a major step forward in strengthening the child protection ecosystem in Punjab.
A key announcement from the visit was the impending signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Child Protection Bureau and the PSCA. This formal agreement aims to enhance institutional coordination and synergy.
The cornerstone of this proposed collaboration will be the development of a joint centralized database. This integrated system is specifically designed to significantly improve the efficiency of tracing and recovering missing children across the region.
Enhanced Support and Integrated Emergency Response
Further detailing the partnership, Ahmed stated that children referred by the PSCA in cases of abuse or exploitation would receive dedicated psychological counselling from qualified child psychologists at the bureau.
The PSCA Managing Director highlighted that joint efforts had already yielded positive results, helping to reunite thousands of missing and abandoned children with their families. To build on this success, he outlined future steps:
- Child-related emergency calls received by PSCA will be shared in real-time with the Child Protection Bureau.
- An integrated system will be developed between the Police Helpline 15 and the Child Helpline 1121.
These measures are expected to create a stronger, faster, and more unified emergency response mechanism for child protection services in Punjab.
