Checking abductions: New SOPs for kidnapping cases

Police to monitor railway stations, bus stands

LAHORE: Punjab police inspector general (IGP) Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera on Saturday introduced a new policy for dealing with child abduction cases.

The policy was formulated during a meeting of police officers at the Central Police Office.

Under the policy, the SHOs concerned will register FIRs as soon as they receive an abduction complaint. Stern action will be taken against officers who delayed this. The SHO and the investigation officer will remain in contact with parents of the kidnapped children.

CCTV cameras will be installed at railway stations, lorry addas, shrines, public parks and billiard and video game clubs.

Markets and shops where children worked would also be monitored. The IGP also ordered stern action against beggars.

A gazetted officer will be appointed as focal person for dealing with abduction cases. He will send reports to the Crime Registration Office within 15 days of registration of the FIRs.

All field officers will coordinate with Child Welfare and Protection Bureau, non-government organisations and cable operators to share information about missing children.

The IGP urged the media to raise awareness among people about the issue and requested them to cooperate with police.

Separately, CCPO Amin Wains held a meeting with MPAs and MNAs from Lahore over the issue. The meeting decided that the parliamentarians will accompany parents of missing children during their visits to police stations. The announcement of a child’s recovery will also be made publicly along with parents and the elected representatives.

SCBA delegation

A delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), led by its president Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, called on the IGP on Saturday.

Talking to them, the IGP said that the problem had been exaggerated by the media. “Most of the missing children run away from their homes due to the harsh attitude of their parents. Police have recovered many [of them] from railways station, shrines and lorry addas. Many more are at various child protection centres. Parents reporting missing children will be taken to these centres to identify their children,” he said.

The IGP said that only two per cent of the missing children had been kidnapped. Zafar said that he had been convinced by the IGP that the situation was not out of control.

“It is not what we thought [it would be]. We were afraid that perhaps the children were being kidnapped by some terrorist organisation. Nevertheless, we will verify the facts shared with us by the IGP. We will issue a report on Monday,” he said.

Zafar said that the IGP had claimed that they had recovered most of the missing children. He said the briefing had been convincing.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2016.