Children's kidnappings

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The string of kidnapping cases in Karachi has thrown a glaring spotlight on the failure of our society to protect our children. Several unsolved cases of child abductions or disappearances had already been adding up before the recent case involving three young children, the body of one of whose has since been recovered. Citizens are justified in questioning the efficacy of law enforcement. Despite Karachi's top cops claiming they are making every effort to address this crisis, the grim reality remains that they have continually failed to protect our most vulnerable citizens.

The fact that the Sindh chief minister and home minister have finally stepped in serves as a long-overdue acknowledgment of the extent of the problem. The main response to the kidnappings has been bureaucratic - 'high-level meetings' which conclude with a handful of obvious and often meaningless proposals, such as 'increased patrolling' and 'more effort'. The reality is that enhanced patrolling only matters if it translates into better intelligence gathering and deters further crime. It is also a fact that no amount of policing can be as effective as addressing the root causes of crime, which is something that policymakers rather than police must address.

A robust child protection framework requires the government to ensure parents, schools and social services are on the same page and can collaborate as much as possible. Instead, there is often little coordination or even effort to improve coordination. Thanks to technology, keeping an eye on children's movement is getting increasingly easier for good and bad actors. Unfortunately, only the bad actors seem to be using it. The government needs to improve parent's ability to keep a check on their minor children's movements, perhaps using devices such as GPS trackers, which are now cheap, discrete and easy to install on a child's schoolbag or even on their clothing. Community policing is also needed - local cops will recognise if a local child is moving around with a stranger.