Age of criminal responsibility stalls at 7

Government says nation’s climate, spicy food make children mature more quickly

ISLAMABAD — Children in Pakistan grow up faster than those elsewhere because of the country’s hot climate and spicy food, according to the country’s ministry of interior, which is blocking plans to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

Its extraordinary stance has delayed attempts to increase the age from seven to 12 — in line with United Nations guidelines — and also hampered a bill that would outlaw child pornography, trafficking and sexual abuse for the first time. The delays have exasperated ministers trying to steer the legislation through parliament.

Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, who heads Pakistan’s ministry of human rights, said the country faced international sanctions if it failed to raise the minimum age for prosecutions.

“These are the problems I have to deal with,” he said.

“Not only are we trying to raise the age of criminal liability, but we are also trying to introduce legislation to outlaw child pornography, trafficking and abuse which doesn’t exist in Pakistan at the moment.…

“Yet it is being blocked because of an unscientific theory that children here mature faster.”

In a written submission, the ministry of law and justice said that, under Shariah law, children became adults at the onset of puberty, which varied under a range of factors, making it impossible to increase the age for criminal responsibility.

“It can be well understood that attainment of maturity of understanding depends on social, economic, climatic, dietary and environmental factors, that’s why a child in our subcontinent starts understanding nature and consequences of his/ her conduct much earlier than a child in the West specially because of general poverty, hot climate, exotic and spicy food which contribute toward speedy physical and mental growth of the child,” it said.

The ministry also claimed that raising the age would allow young, would- be suicide bombers to escape punishment.

Khokhar said he had written to Rehman Malik, the interior minister, asking him to think again.

“These very young children are victims and should not be treated as criminals. We have rehabilitation centres for them,” he added.