PML-N senator Javed Abbasi has tabled the Children's Amendment Bill in the Senate demanding public execution of anyone convicted in child sexual abuse cases.
The bill also calls for keeping the child abuser in jail until their death.
Another amendment to the bill mandates that the hearing of child sexual abuse cases will be conducted at the high court’s instead of the sessions courts.
The bill sets out that the high court would be bound to conclude rape and sexual abuse cases within two months and that an appeal against the decision can only be challenged at the Supreme Court.
Any appeal must be concluded within two weeks.
The punishments in the bill will apply to the sexual abuse of children up to the age of 18.
The bill comes a week after news of the rape of a mother of three on a motorway at Lahore's Gujjarpura, shocked the nation.
The woman was stranded at the motorway when her car ran out of petrol. She called the motorway emergency helpline but assistance was not provided to her.
Two men arrived and smashed the windows of the car, taking the woman and her children outside the vehicle and rapping her in the nearby fields after torturing her.
They also stole Rs100,000 cash, jewellery and ATM cards.
More than eight children subjected to sexual abuse daily in first six months of 2020
More than eight children in Pakistan were subjected to sexual abuse on average every day in the first six months of 2020, said a report by child protection NGO Sahil.
In its six-month "Cruel Number" report released last week, Sahil reported that as of June this year, 497 children were sexually abused throughout the country.
The NGO said most of the cases reported were in Punjab — comprising 57% of the total number. Of the rest, 32% were reported in Sindh and 6% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It further noted that more than 35 child abuse cases were reported in Islamabad, 22 in Balochistan, 10 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Out of the total reported cases, 62% were from rural areas and 38% reported from urban areas
At least 173 children were gang-raped, whereas there were 227 reports of attempted sexual assault. Moreover, 38 children were killed after they were sexually abused.
Of the total children who were subjected to sexual abuse, 53% were girls and 47% boys.
Sahil also highlighted that 51 cases of underage marriage were reported.
The conclusions were drawn from January-June 2020 data from 84 newspapers and covers incidents from all four provinces, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, it added.
