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ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador
Nancy Powell Wednesday said the United States welcomes the
weekend crackdown on extremist organizations in Pakistan.
Talking to reporters at the
launching of a child labour project, she replied in negative
when asked if there was any US pressure behind the move and
said the decisions were made by Pakistan.
The government banned
parties/groups under the Anti-Terrorist Act 1997 for flouting
the earlier ban order, under the same Act.
The banned parties/groups
are Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan, formerly known as
Tehreek-e-Jafria Pakistan; Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan, formerly
known as Sipah e-Sahaba Pakistan and Khudam-ul-Islam, formerly
known as Jaish-e- uhammad.
Assistance for Child
Labour Elimination
US Ambassador Powell also
announced assistance of four million US dollars by the US
Department for Labour for the project to eliminate child
labour in Pakistan.
The project is being
executed with the assistance of the International Labour
Organization (ILO), the U.S. Labour Department, the USAID and
other donor countries. "Under the funding to be made available
during the next four years, technical assistance will be
provided to Pakistan to remove over 11,000 children ( 5-17 age
group) working in hazardous industries and provide them
skill-training," she said.
Deep-sea fishing, glass
bangles, tanneries, coal miners, surgical instrument
manufacturing and rag pickers have been identified as
hazardous sectors in Pakistan by the ILO that engage children
as labours.
No fresh data is available
in the country on the child labour but according to a
"National child labour survey" conducted in 1996, some 3.3
million of the 40 million children 5-14 age group ere found to
be economically active on a full-time basis.
Of the 3.3 million working
children, 73 percent were boys and 27 per cent girls.
Children's contribution to work in the rural areas is about
eight times greater than that in the urban areas.
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