Still searching: Shikarpur police fail to recover kidnapped students

Three boys were abducted on their way back from Larkana on Feb 1

Our Correspondent February 10, 2015

Three boys were abducted on their way back from Larkana on Feb 1. STOCK IMAGE

SUKKUR: The police have failed to recover three students who were kidnapped nine days ago near Lanjo Laro within the limits of the Naparkot police station.

For the last couple of days, family, friends and teachers of the students have been camping outside the police station in protest but so far no progress has been made. The police have assured them that the students will be recovered soon.

Ameer Ali Umrani, the father of Naeem Ahmed, one of the students of class VII who was kidnapped on February 1, said that the police was just making promises. “Around 23 students of the Ghazali Residential Higher Secondary School, Kashmore, went for their entry test at Cadet College Larkana on January 31,” he said. “They spent the night there and were on their way back home when unidentified men stopped their van, robbed the students and teachers on the bus and kidnapped three boys.” He added that the police had not taken any practical steps regarding the case.

The secondary school’s principal, Muhammad Ali Solangi, told The Express Tribune that the students did not feel safe anymore. According to Solangi, the police claimed to be near the kidnappers but have yet to recover the children. He said that parents of the kidnapped students had received phone calls from the kidnappers asking for ransom. The principal added that they had informed SSP Shikarpur Saqib Memon about this development and provided him with details. The SSP was not available for comments.

On February 1, three students of the private school — Naeem Ahmed from class VII, Faraz Ali from class VI and Abdul Fatah Junejo, a student of class IX — were making their way back to Kashmore in a wagon with other students and two teachers when a group of bandits intercepted the wagon. They were near Lanjo Laro, Shikarpar, when the men looted the bus and took three of the students with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2015.