Harrowing ordeal: Toddler ‘kidnapped’, recovered from mosque

Her mother went to get water, when she returned the child had disappeared

FAISALABAD: A toddler apparently abducted from a gypsy settlement in Ahmad Nagar Chak 225-RB was recovered a mosque in the area

Iqbal Haidar, a maternal uncle of the girl, told The Express Tribune that his sister Shazia Bibi had left her 1.5-year-old daughter Rukhsana in her hut and gone out to get some water.

He said when she returned, the child was missing.

He said she raised an alarm and a number of gypsy neighbours started looking for the child. “They also made announcements through several mosque loudspeakers but in vain,” he said.

He said the gypsy search teams combed the entire area and also went to look for the girl in the fields. He said while they were searching, a mosque in the area made announcements that a child had been abandoned there.

He said the family rushed to the mosque and saw that it was Ruksana.

The mosque administration initially refused to hand over the girl to the family and asked them to first inform the police, he said.

He said Saddar police was contacted and the SHO them to bring the girl to the police station. He said she was taken to the police station where police handed it over to her mother. The Saddar SHO told The Express Tribune that after the girl was handed over to the mother, she did not want to pursue her complaint against the kidnappers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2015.