At least 98 children went missing from Peshawar, surrounding areas this year

FIRs were only registered in cases where ransom was demanded by kidnappers

PESHAWAR: Three-year-old Hilal, son of Aurangzeb, a resident of Javedabad within the jurisdiction Banamarhi police station, went out of the house with father on May 2015 and disappeared. The taxi driver said his son was running behind him and vanished. After days of searching for him, they informed the Banamarhi police.

On February 22, 2015, 10-year-old Mansoor, the son of an Afghan refugee went missing from the same area. In April 2015, four-year-old Zikria, a resident of Malangabad, went missing and was later found dead in Akbarpura Nowshera district.



Zikria’s father said his son had strange surgical cuts on his stomach and his family suspected the deceased child’s organs had been removed.



While the police strongly denied that such incidents were occurring in the province, particularly in Nowshera, the home district of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, they were nonetheless alarmed.

Moreover, a five-year-old child was found dead in Banamarhi a few weeks ago. His body was too decomposed to ascertain the identity. Most of his fingers were missing and autopsy report confirmed that he was killed after being hit on the head.

The cases of missing children have sent a wave of panic in the area, but the police have failed to find clues and investigate the issue.

The figures

According to the investigation conducted by The Express Tribune, 98 children have been missing in the city since the beginning of 2016, out of which 14 are still missing. Moreover, around 10 children have been found dead in the city since April 2015.

While the survey conducted was by no means complete or comprehensive, there is no police record of most of these incidents.

In nearly all cases, children from low income backgrounds have disappeared and when the parents contact the police stations, only a daily report, rozenamcha, is registered. The police advise parents to look for their children by publishing their pictures in newspapers and announcing reports of missing from loud speakers.





It is worth mentioning that according to police records, 19 children were kidnapped for ransom in Peshawar this year, out of which four are still abducted.

FIRs were registered only in those cases in which ransom was demanded from parents. For those children who went missing and no ransom was demanded, the police report was limited to a rozenamcha, kept away from the public and media.

Emerging complexities

While rumours of large-scale kidnappings of children and subsequent removal of their organs have been reported from Punjab, similar rumours have been prevalent in K-P since 2015. Unfortunately news from K-P, unlike the ones from Punjab, failed to attract much media attention.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, SSP Operations Abbas Majeed Marwat said there were rumours in Punjab that children were being kidnapped and their organs were being removed, but no such incident has happened in Peshawar so far.

“A 12-year-old was killed in Chamkani, but the motive for murder was different,” he said.

Nowshera DPO Mahmood Wahid, whose district is the epicentre of such rumours, told The Express Tribune removal of organs was not possible for any ordinary criminal.

He said it was inevitable that surgeons and other medical staff were involved in it.



“We are investigating the matter,” Wahid assured.

He had told The Express Tribune earlier there were reports of some gangs removing the organs of children and then dumping the bodies in nullahs.

Towards resolution

It is unfortunate that there is no system in K-P police to find missing children. FIRs can prove effective but in most cases, they are not registered.

Talking to The Express Tribune, rights activist Imran Takkar said there should be a desk in K-P police which should only deal with issues of children including cases of missing ones.

He said the police should establish a separate desk on the pattern of anti-terrorism body where complete record of missing children—those found, those found dead, those rescued—should be kept.

“We call the Punjab police cruel, but even they register FIRs in cases of missing children while the K-P police that are called ‘people friendly’ have no such system in place,” Takkar said.

Rights activist Arshad Mahmood told The Express Tribune the issue of child kidnappings in K-P and the rest of the country should be taken seriously and the police and other relevant government agencies should investigate the issue.

“There is unrest and a sense of fear among parents today,” he said, adding, the CM should look into the matter like his counterpart in Punjab.


14 children who are still missing:

Missing since May 16, 2015

Javed, Khattak Colony, Haji Camp Adda Age 14

Missing since May 3, 2015

Hilal, Javedabad, Achar Road, Kohat Road Age 3

Missing since
February 2, 2015

Mansoor,

Kohat Road Acher Age 10

Missing since May 2015

Lal Mina, Mohmandabad, Pishtakhara Chowk  Age 12

Missing since
September 21, 2015

Odil Khan,

Jabba Sohail Abad  Age 15

Missing since August 10, 2015

Ali,

Tuhid Colony, Phandu Road Age 14

Missing since May 2015

Sakina,

Scheme Chowk, Badabher Age 12

Missing since May 18, 2015

Roman,

Tajabad, Pishtakhara Age 3

Missing since
February 11, 2015 

Jalal, Khalid Bin Walid Colony, Aneesabad no 3, Ring Road Age 12

Missing since

July 6, 2015 

Muhammad Talha ,

Mohalla Kotla Rashid Khan, Pabbi, Nowshera Age 13

Missing since April 15, 2015 

Ataullah,

Latifabad, Sardar Ahmad Jan Colony Age 3

Missing since March 19, 2015 

Abdul Ghani,

Regi, Nasir Bagh Age 10

Missing since June 9, 2015

Omid Gul,

Landi Sark, Charsadda Road

Age 3 Missing since May 28, 2015

Moeezullah,

Haider Colony, Mohalla Munwar Shah, Gunj Age 6

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2016.