Karachi, Pakistan: September 28, 2008. (Khadijah Shah reports for PCP) The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) expressed shock on Tuesday over reports in which parents put their children up for sale publicly on the grounds that they were poor and could not afford to feed them. In one event, Lalan Lashari, a resident of village Mohammad Bux Laghari, came to Moro Town, District Naushehro Feroz, along with his six children, including a three-year old daughter Kawish, and called out: "Purchase my children. I am sick and unemployed and cannot afford to feed them." Surprisingly many families rushed to buy the children. Lashari offered to let the District Coordination Officer (DCO) fix the price of his children. Hundreds of citizens gathered to show their solidarity and provided flour and other essentials to the family. Unfortunately, the atrocious trend of sale of children is rapidly taking place in the province. Sometime ago, a woman named Aisha Malik brought her children for sale in a bazaar in Hyderabad. It is a fact that increasing poverty, unemployment and inflation have made the poor vulnerable and the government has failed in mitigating the problems through providing collective social security packages, the SPARC statement said, adding that beyond the harsh reality of poverty, it is unethical and illegal to sell children in the market like commodities. The SPARC spokesman said that it was the foremost responsibility of the government to provide social security and legal protection to the children of the country. "The trade of children is spreading like a menace in society and it is being encouraged by solidarity packages being offered by the state and society to the parents. Therefore, it is necessary to discourage the practice of selling children and instead of providing solidarity packages to helpless individuals, a holistic approach should be adopted to provide social security to vulnerable families," SPARC Karachi Regional Manager Salam Dharejo said. The sale of children is a crime and parents who are involved in the dreadful act should be punished in accordance with criminal rules. In this regard, the state is obligated to ensure safe and secure environment for children through phasing out new protection mechanisms for the children, he said, adding that the state is also accountable to ensure children's rights enshrined in the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Keeping in view the increasing violation of fundamental rights of children, SPARC has demanded of the government, civil society organizations and parents to come forward to condemn the victimization of children. It is time to raise voice for the rights of children and mobilise the society to provide protection to the innocent from becoming the victim of circumstances, it concluded.