Committee formed to probe child abductions

IGP says 715 out of 767 children who went missing this year have been found

LAHORE: A division bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted a committee to inquire about the recovery of kidnapped children and submit its report by August 25.

The advocate general will be the head of the committee. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of the rising incidents of child abductions and had sought a report from the IGP. The bench noted that it was a matter of grave concern and sorrow that many of the abducted children had not been recovered. “Police is responsible for this,” the bench observed.

The father of a child kidnapped from Rawalakot appeared before the bench on Wednesday and accused police of protecting the kidnapping suspects.

The IGP stated that from 2011 to 2016, 6,793 children had been abducted. “Out of them, 6,654 have been recovered. We are investigating the remaining 139 cases. So far this year, 767 children have been abducted. Out of which, 715 have been recovered. Police teams are looking for the remaining children,” he said.

A majority of the children had been kidnapped from Lahore, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar. Most of the children were recovered from railway stations and bus stops.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2016.