A parent’s worst nightmare: Most missing children cases reported from Gulshan

Cases of children reported missing in Karachi rose 20 per cent to 3,090 in 2010.


Samia Saleem January 18, 2011

KARACHI: Cases of children reported missing in Karachi rose 20 per cent to 3,090 in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the annual report of an NGO, Roshni Helpline. Even scarier is the fact that there is a huge discrepancy between those reported to the police and those reported to neighbourhood mosques.

Eighty per cent of the missing children were boys and most of them were between 12 and 18 years of age.

The data was collected from around 100 police stations across the city’s 18 towns from January to December, 2010. The report highlighted that on average, about two and a half cases were reported to each police station every month.

“We define a missing child as any child that goes out of contact with the family or guardians,” said Muhammad Ali, Roshni’s president.

Out of the total number of reported cases, 2,472 were boys and 618 were girls. Seventy-eight per cent were between 12 and 18 years, while the remaining 22 per cent were below 12 years. “About 34 per cent of the missing children were studying in both formal schools and madrassas, 30 per cent were studying in just madrassas, while 26 per cent had dropped out of either a school or a madrassa.”

Community mosques

The NGO also takes into account reports of missing children from mosques. Out of the estimated 54,000 mosques in Karachi, the helpline collected data from 15 in each town, which came to a total of 270 mosques. On average, two announcements were made from every mosque per month. At least 24 cases of missing children were announced in the year through the loudspeakers of each mosque, which means a total of 6,480 children were announced as missing.

The report showed that the disparity between the cases reported to police stations and those reported in mosques indicates that only a fraction of the actual cases make it to police stations.

Most-affected areas

According to the data, the maximum number of cases was reported from Gulshan-e-Iqbal, where 300 cases were registered in eight police stations. Korangi Town reported the most at 144 in three police stations and Baldia Town reported over 100 cases in three police stations.

Why cases are not reported

Normally, a case is reported to the police after 48 hours, because most families first search for the child on their own.

In some cases, parents showed neglect, especially when their child was a runaway. The report defined a runaway child as one who goes out of contact with his/her home/family on his/her own will after a quarrel or for any other reason.

Late and low recovery rate

The reason for a low rate of recovery is due to the lack of awareness in parents and families whose child has gone missing.  “They become preys of fake aamils and pirs who make them run in different directions because of their calculations based on fake istikharas and aamlaat. In many cases when the police calls these pirs to police stations, they vanish quickly,” Ali said.

Lost or kidnapped

Explaining loopholes in the law, Ali told The Express Tribune that a majority of the cases reported to police are lodged in the roznamcha (the daily police register). As a result, they fall into non-cognisable (NC) offences. “All the cases logged in the roznamcha are called NC reports and are referred to as ‘kachchi FIR’.

No Investigation Officer is appointed and no action is taken, unless and until the case’s FIR is registered under a cognisable offence,” he said. This gives the police an excuse to not take action on the case. All they do is advise the parents to keep searching on their own, he added.

A proper or ‘pucca’ FIR is not lodged unless the family tells the police that an unknown person has kidnapped their child for unknown reasons, after which the investigation officer carries proper investigation, Ali said.

Ali said that in the absence of attention to child rights, the issue of missing children has become a secondary one, despite the fact that it leads to major crimes against children.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Raazi | 13 years ago | Reply Ughhhh...I dono what the hell city's concerned authorities are doing....... Rs 350milllion + for 7 persons of Raiwand....n rest should keep faith on almighty......
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