Separated parents demand better meeting facilities at Rawalpindi Judicial Complex
Messy cement and iron benches reflect inadequate facilities at the Rawalpindi Judicial Complex for separated parents and children. Photo: Express
RAWALPINDI:
With the lockdown of 2025, there has been a record and alarming rise in meetings between divorced parents and their separated children at the family facilitation center at the Rawalpindi Judicial Complex.
The increase, which continued monthly throughout the year, is primarily attributed to the rising divorce rate.
Previously, meetings with separated children were allowed once a week on a designated day with the permission of a family judge.
However, due to the sharp increase in the number of divorced couples, these meetings are now held daily. According to the person in charge of the family facilitation center, between 45 and 65 divorced mothers, fathers, grandparents and close relatives visit the center daily to meet the children.
Between 360 and 390 divorced couples visit the center weekly, while the monthly figure ranges between 9,000 and 10,500. From January 1 to December 31, 2025, a total of 22,185 divorced parents reunited their separated children at the center.
These encounters often feature emotional and heartbreaking scenes.
Children who live with their mothers after divorce are visited by their fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, while children who live with their fathers (when the mothers have remarried) are visited by maternal relatives, including grandmothers, grandfathers and aunts.
Parents bring pizzas, burgers, juices, cakes, sweets, roast chicken and pulao for the children, along with toys, clothing, shoes, bicycles and cash gifts. Each meeting lasts 30-40 minutes, and at the same time, 15-20 couples can meet with their children at the facility.
Parents and seniors who visited the center expressed serious complaints about the state of the facilities. Visitors like Waris Ali, Masood Khan and Iftikharuddin said the waiting area is completely open to the sky, with concrete and iron benches that are impossible to sit on during the bitter cold.
They said the benches remain wet and dirty due to morning dew and are never cleaned. There are no drinking water facilities and parents are forced to wait outdoors. There is a small plastic shed, but rainwater enters everywhere, leaving visitors soaked.
They demanded construction of a proper roof, replacement of iron and cement benches with chairs, provisions for protection from sun and rain and expansion of the center to allow at least 50 parents to join their children at a time.
They also called for converting the single-story building into a three-story facility and introducing an online meeting system to ease difficulties.
The central demand of the parents was that instead of meetings in the judicial facilitation centers, the children were handed over to the separated father twice a month for a full day, under strict guarantees and bonds.
They suggested that CNICs and passports of visiting parents and relatives be deposited as collateral for a day. They said this would provide children with a more home-like atmosphere during meetings.
