Police presents report on missing children to SC

LAHORE: Police on Thursday presented a report on missing children to the Supreme Court.

The court had asked the Punjab police for the report on Wednesday, after it began hearing of a suo moto case over incidents of child kidnapping reported in Lahore as well as the rest of Punjab.

According to the report 766 children were kidnapped in Punjab in the past seven months, of whom 715 have been found. Police is working on complaints related to sale of organs of kidnapped children in Gujrat and surrounding areas, the report stated.

The court said that parents of missing children raise hue and cry at police stations but are not able to register a case. When the state fails to protect the life and property of its citizens then the judiciary has to intervene, the court added.

Two more incidents of missing children surfaced in Lahore on Thursday. The latest victims are 10-year-old Sohaib Kashif who went missing two days ago from Nishtar Colony, and 11-year-old Tooba who went missing from Railway Colony. Tooba reportedly went to a shop to buy something yesterday evening after which she did not return.

A wave of anxiety has gripped the region following kidnapping of 600 children from Lahore and other parts of Punjab within a short span of time. However, Punjab police has said that most of these children fled from domestic violence.

Incidents of missing children from Punjab have been on the rise recently. More than a dozen children went missing from Badami baagh (garden) in the past few months alone. Last week, a child was discovered dead in the same area, who had reportedly been murdered after being tortured.

The police, meanwhile, maintains that not all of the missing children were kidnapped. Additional Inspector General Police Shahzada Sultan, citing statistics, said that during 2015 kidnapping cases of 1,134 children were registered in Punjab, of whom 1,093 were recovered. This year 681 cases have been registered, whereas 640 children have been recovered already.

Many of the missing children belong to poor families.