‘I wanted to change her life but now she’s gone’

KARACHI: Twelve-year-old Rashida Parveen left her brother’s house when his wife slapped him. And she never came back.

Almost two months later, her brother, Muhammad Ikram, is still looking for her desperately.

Ikram had brought Rashida from their home in Khushab district, Punjab, to Karachi, where he works for Pakistan Navy, so he could have her eyes operated on. But on November 9, his wife and Parveen had a fight and she slapped Parveen. Parveen left the house, located in the Naval Colony in Saeedabad, the same day and has not been heard from or seen since.

“We asked neighbours, looked at places where they distribute free food and visited the Edhi Centre, Ansar Burney Trust and Darul Aman as well as the morgues at the Civil and Jinnah hospitals,” said Ikram.

“The police would not register a First Information Report (FIR),” Ikram told The Express Tribune. “They said a kachhi report is filed in such cases. We enlisted the help of Roshni Helpline [a non-profit organisation] and they managed to get the police to file the FIR on November 25.” Ikram and his wife fought after Rashida went missing and now his wife has gone to her parents’ house until Parveen is found. “Our father has passed away,” Ikram said. “I had brought Rashida back with me so I could get her eyes operated on. Her appointment with the doctor was scheduled. She was cross-eyed and people would make fun of her. I thought her life would become better after the surgery but now she is gone,” he said despondently.

Investigating Officer Daryaman told The Express Tribune, “Nothing is evident right now. Many such cases have happened before, where girls leave the house because of a fight. In some incidents, they end up in good homes where people take care of them and then they return back to their homes. In others, they get into the hands of wrong people who then misguide them.”

While the police claimed that the brother, Ikram, is not cooperating properly, Ikram maintained that the police are only checking the same places he has already inquired at.  The police also put up ‘missing’ notices for Rashida in the neighbourhood but the young girl has yet to surface.

“I have no faith in the government,” Ikram said. “Maybe the media can do something.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2011.