Developments in Pakistan

In 2010, Pakistan continued to experience attacks by armed groups influenced by and/or associated with Taliban or Al-Qaida, including Tehrik-i-Taliban, on Government institutions and civilians, which escalated and expanded beyond Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to several major urban centres. Sectarian violence also continued as attacks by armed groups, including the Taliban and Lashkar i Jhangvi, were launched mainly against Shiite processions and mosques. Children have been used by these armed groups to carry out suicide attacks. In one such incident on 25 January 2011, reported by the Government, a teenage suicide bomber carried out an attack near a Shiite procession in Lahore, killing himself and 9 others, and injuring a further 50 people, including several children. In another incident on 10 February 2011, a boy in a school uniform blew himself up at a Pakistani army recruitment centre in the north-western town of Mardan, killing himself and 20 cadets. The Taliban claimed responsibility for those attacks. Further, according to reliable sources, an increasing number of children were allegedly abducted by armed groups throughout the country in 2010.

Children also suffered the effects of cross-border recruitment related to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Although there is no systematic monitoring of cases by the United Nations in Pakistan, the country task force on monitoring and reporting in Afghanistan has documented and verified cases of Afghan children recruited and trained in Pakistan by armed groups, including the Taliban. The Malakand-based Sabaoon Academy continued to provide rehabilitation and reintegration support to 150 children who were recruited by the Taliban and other non-State armed groups in Swat Valley and taken into custody by the Pakistan armed forces.

Children were victims of indiscriminate attacks in 2010, including suicide bombings, although there were no official figures on the number of children killed or injured. In two separate incidents reported by the media, children were among the casualties in bomb attacks on a Shiite mosque in November 2010; and on a Shiite procession in Quetta, Balochistan, in September 2010. Lashkar i Jhangvi reportedly claimed responsibility for the latter incident.

Reports of drone attacks continued to be reported in FATA in 2010, but no data is available on the number of children killed or injured in those attacks. In general, the number of civilians killed is highly contested. The United Nations does not have access to these sites to undertake any independent verification.

Civilian casualties as a result of landmines, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices became a serious concern in Pakistan during 2010. Of the 268 reported incidents, 31 children were injured by these devices. The majority of the reported incidents occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or FATA, with the remainder occurring in Balochistan.

During the year, schools continued to be a target for bomb attacks by armed groups, including the Taliban, who are opposed to secular education and girls’ education. In Malakand, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 273 schools were destroyed and 367 were damaged by bomb attacks, according to the provincial Minister for Education. An additional 70 schools were destroyed or damaged in other affected provinces. In one particular attack in February 2010, an improvised explosive device targeted at a truck carrying Pakistani soldiers travelling to the inauguration of Koto Girls High School in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa detonated near the school, destroying it, which resulted in the deaths of three schoolgirls and the injury of 63 others. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan reportedly claimed responsibility.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Ordinance, which is aimed at addressing legal provisions to protect children from abuse, exploitation, recruitment and other types of violations of their rights, was approved by the Provincial Assembly in 2010. The Government of Pakistan has not yet ratified the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.