Zainab Alert app launched across Pakistan to report missing children

The Ministry of Human Rights launched on Thursday the Zainab Alert app across Pakistan.

According to the ministry, the application will ensure timely reporting of rape cases and help the police reporting and recovering missing children.

During the inauguration ceremony of the app on Thursday, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari said the Zainab Alert app was the need of the time.

“The past government had already begun work on an alert, which was named “mera bacha” [my child] on the prime minister’s portal but that was never completed,” she said. “The Zainab Alert app has been integrated with district police stations throughout the country.”

It is linked with 36 district police stations in Punjab, 33 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 50 in Sindh.

Related: Parliament passes Zainab Alert Bill for recovery of missing children

Mazari explained that the after the launch of the app, the police will not have to wait for a complaint to be lodged and can start investigations immediately. The police will be answerable if they delay the process, she said.

“The prime minister will monitor the application himself,” she said, adding that so far, over three million residents have already downloaded it.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that the application was important to bring the laws into action.

The Zainab Alert app has been named after seven-year-old Zainab Ansari who was raped and murdered in Kasur. Her case sparked national outrage and a conversation about child abuse.

The app was developed after the National Assembly passed the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Act (ZARRA) in March 2020.

Her father, Amin Ansari, attended the inauguration ceremony. “The application is very important for the protection of our children,” he said, adding that should work without any political means.