In some areas, parents were reluctant to send their children to school because of rumours that children were being systematically abducted. PHOTO: APP
ISLAMABAD: Even a month after eliciting information from the public, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has still not uncovered any solid leads about the alleged kidnapping of children for the organ trade.
Organ trade refers to the global trade of human organs, tissues or other body parts for the purpose of transplantation.
Social media is abuzz with claims of children being systematically abducted and sent abroad for illegally harvesting organs.
Last month, the top investigation agency’s Islamabad branch initiated a formal investigation, inviting the general public to share clues about the child kidnappings. However, no corroborating evidence could be collected.
The FIA had posted a contact number along with an email address for providing information in this regard.
“We received a lot of calls on the given contact number, but we did not get any incriminating evidence. The information didn’t give us any sort of leads, proving that children are being intentionally kidnapped and they are being abducted to smuggle them to other countries for taking their organs for transplantation,” a senior FIA official told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity.
The official heaped scorn at the social media users who passed on unauthentic information and whipped up frenzy over the issue. He made it clear that the FIA had not been able to gather any solid leads about either child kidnappings or organ sale abroad.
Fear of abductions created such mass hysteria across Pakistan that people beat up strangers on the slightest doubt about the safety of their children.
Last month, a woman was attacked and badly beaten up in Lahore after being accosted by a family, who accused her of kidnapping her own child because “she had no resemblance to her son”.
Later, it was established by the police that the woman was the actual mother of the child.
In some areas, parents were reluctant to send their children to school because of rumours that children were being systematically abducted.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2016.
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