2,160 Karachi children never made it home in 2015: report

A five-year-old got lost at the zoo on Eidul Fitr and has yet to be found

KARACHI:

Five-year-old Muzammil Yaseen begged his mother to take him to the zoo. He had never been there before and wanted to see the elephants and the monkeys.

So, on the second day of Eidul Fitr in July, last year, the family from Baldia Town set off for the Karachi Zoological Gardens. “I took him around and showed him all the animals except the elephant,” says Ramzana, talking to The Express Tribune over the phone. “It was very crowded then and I decided that I would take him towards the end.”



Yaseen never got to see the elephant. Worse, he never came home, for he went missing amid the huge crowds.

“I searched everywhere for him, registered an FIR but couldn’t find him,” she says, her voice shaking. “I blame myself for taking him there. I read wazifas and tasbeehs hoping that I would meet him soon. When I cook something nice at home, I can’t eat it.”

Muzammil is one of the 2,160 children who never made it home in 2015. They are the missing children of Karachi.

An NGO working for missing children, Roshni Helpline released their annual report on Friday. It states that out of the 2,160 children who went missing in 2015, 1,639 were boys and 521 were girls.

The president of Roshni Helpline, Muhammad Ali, explains that their number is based on cases reported in the 100 police stations of the city.



“There is no section in the law that recognises incidents of missing children as a crime,” he says. “So, in many cases, the incident at the police station is reported in the Roznamcha instead of an FIR being lodged.”

According to him, Landhi, Korangi, Baldia and Gulshan-e-Iqbal emerged as the most vulnerable areas last year as the highest number of children went missing from these places. Most of these areas are under-developed and poverty-stricken localities. The report reveals that children aged one to five years were picked up from near their homes or public places, which included picnic spots. The older ones went missing when they were going or returning from schools and other places.

“Many of the children who are kidnapped are being used as beggars,” says Ali. “They are also used as child sex workers and are, in some cases, trafficked.”

According to the report, a majority of the missing children, around 982, were between the ages of eight to 12 years. As many as 675 children were between ages of 13 to 18 years while 503 children were between one and seven years. Meanwhile, seven children were reported to have been murdered.



Girls aged 12 years and above are at a greater risk of being sexually exploited and used for organised prostitution, says the report.

Meanwhile, the report says that some 1,432 children were recovered in previous years. Ali, who feels that the number of missing children is higher than being reported, demands amendments in the law that can give legal status to the incidents of missing children, which can then be brought to the attention of the government and the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2016.