Pakistan’s first case under the Parents Protection Ordinance 2021 has been registered against a son in Bahawalpur.
“My son was misbehaving with me and pushed me out of the house,” a blind elderly man told the police who arrested the son.
President Arif Alvi issued the Parents Protection Ordinance 2021on May 8. It aims to protect parents from forced eviction by their children.
Under the ordinance, evicting parents will be a punishable offense. Those found guilty may face a prison term up to one year or fine, or both.
President Dr Arif Alvi had promulgated the ordinance for protection of parents, providing them security against forced eviction from their houses.
The president promulgated the Parental Protection Ordinance 2021, under Article 89 of the Constitution, which makes commission of such acts liable to punishment.
The punishment includes one-year jail term or fine, or both, to those found guilty.
According to the ordinance, parents would have the protection of residing in their houses even if their siblings are owners of houses or they have rented them out. While in cases where the ownership rights vest with parents, they could ask their children to vacate houses.
According to data, 25.2 per cent of parents in Islamabad have experienced physical assault. This is an alarming figure revealing that over a fourth of the parents in the federal capital are being mistreated by their own children. In Islamabad 31.8pc elderly men and 16.7pc elderly women experience mistreatment by their own children. Over a fourth of such cases — 25.2pc — abound in the urban areas of the capital.
The case of Balochistan is also shocking where 14.7pc of parents have experienced oppressive behaviour from their own children. While 21.8pc elderly men in the province have experienced maltreatment, about 6pc elderly women have also been subjected to disrespect.
Sindh follows next with 8.2pc of parents being mistreated by their children, with Punjab at 6.1pc and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 2.4pc.
“Remember that we have 14 million people over the age of 60 years so even though in proportion to our population they are few, it still makes us one of the 15 countries in the world with an old age population of over 60. The projections are that we will have 44m elderly persons by 2050,” the former secretary said.
