Families fly kites in memory of their missing children

Asghar Wahid’s two-and-a-half year old niece has been missing for two years

KARACHI: With gloomy faces, parents focused on pictures drawn on kites flying high in the sky, as every kite donned the picture of a child who had gone missing for known or unknown reasons.

To highlight the issue of a rapid increase in missing children, Roshni Helpline and Spectrum Y&R organised a kite-flying event at Pavilion End Club on Sunday.



The event was attended by families, including the families of victims, where they flew kites and watched theatrical plays to remember the missing children.

Missing for over two years

Holding a picture of his two-and-a-half years old niece, Rafia Rashid, Asghar Wahid told The Express Tribune that it had been two years that his niece went missing on September 5, 2014, while playing outside her house in North Nazimabad in the morning. The family has no clue of her whereabouts, said Wahid, adding that memories from the time spent with the young girl have depressed the whole family. "We had some doubts on one of our neighbours as we had conflicts with them before the incident but the police did not even investigate into the matter despite several requests," shared Wahid.



Not picked up for ransom

There are several reasons why children go missing, said Roshni Helpline founder Muhammad Ali. "Most of the cases come from lower-middle class areas, which means that children are not picked up for ransom," he said, adding that only 1% of missing children cases are of kidnapping while the rest are children picked up by beggar mafias for sexual abuse or teenagers who leave their house because of domestic violence. Ali informed The Express Tribune that 148 cases of missing children have been registered with Roshni Helpline, while there must be more unreported cases.





Parents should go to the nearest police station and file an FIR of kidnapping instead of missing person as the police do not take interest in missing children cases, Ali advised parents.

A head constable in the police, Khizar Hayat, is also in search of his 15-year-old boy, Shahzaib Hayat. Shahzaib, the eldest among Hayat's six children, has been missing for six months.

"It is now impossible to console Shahzaib's mother," said Hayat, adding that he has searched not only in Karachi, but visited several places in rural Sindh and Punjab in search of his son with no leads so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2016.