Missing futures

Hearing for 20 missing children in Karachi

Three women cried before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday, pleading it to help recover their missing children. The court was hearing a case of 20 children who have gone missing from Karachi. During the hearing, the SHC was told that one child had been recovered but the recovery came after the alleged abductor, a relative of the victim, had sexually assaulted the child and then dumped her outside her home in an unconscious state.

The court expressed annoyance over the police for not arresting the accused and displeasure over the fact that only one missing child had been recovered thus far. The police and the FIA were directed to take joint steps to recover the children.

Of the 20 missing children, some have been missing for as long as six years, while others had been missing for shorter periods. According to the US State Department’s annual Trafficking in Person report, Pakistan has over the last five years became a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children who are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Children are bought, sold, rented or kidnapped and placed in organised begging rings, domestic servitude, small shops, brick kilns, and sex trafficking.

While the US upgraded Pakistan to ‘Tier 2’ in the report for demonstrating increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking, it did note that the government did not fully meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Moreover, it pointed out that official complicity in trafficking crimes remains a pervasive problem.

While the police may not be complicit in the 20 children going missing from Karachi, it does appear as if the police and other investigation agencies are disinterested in tracing these cases. The investigating agencies must take ownership of such cases and ensure that missing children are recovered and those responsible are brought to justice.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2018.

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