Punjab Child Protection Bureau reunites Afghan children with families
Afghan children look at Canadian soldiers of the NATO-led coalition while they patrol in their compound in the Taliban stronghold of Zhari district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 19, 2009. [Photo: Reuters]
In a significant humanitarian development, the Family Tracing team of the Punjab Child Protection Bureau has successfully located the families of two Afghan children who had crossed into Pakistan illegally after fleeing their homes in Afghanistan.
Following the completion of legal formalities, the children were handed over to the Afghan Refugee Center in Islamabad.
According to officials, the handover orders were issued by Judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry of the Child Protection Court. One of the children, identified as Rahmatullah, reportedly escaped from Kandahar by hiding in a truck, later arriving in Chishtian via Peshawar.
He was rescued by the Bahawalpur Child Protection Bureau and subsequently transferred to Lahore. The boy is currently around 12 years old.
The second child, Hamza, son of Shams, was rescued by police near the Civil Lines police station in Lahore on October 31, 2024, after being found wandering alone.
Chairperson of the Child Protection Bureau, Sarah Ahmad, said that with the cooperation of the Afghan Embassy, the parents of both boys were successfully traced in Jalalabad and Kandahar.
The children were handed over to Asif Zadran, Director of the Afghan Refugee Center in Islamabad, who will oversee their repatriation to Afghanistan.
Sarah Ahmad emphasized that reuniting missing or runaway children with their families remains a top priority for the Bureau. She added that the Bureau’s efforts extend beyond Punjab, covering other provinces of Pakistan and even Afghanistan in collaboration with national and international partners.
Over the past three years, the Punjab Child Protection Bureau has reunited nearly 100 Afghan children with their parents or relatives.
Most of these children had either run away from home or were vulnerable to human trafficking.“Our work relies on close coordination with the Afghan government, diplomatic missions, and various provincial institutions to ensure that these children are safely returned to their families,” Sarah Ahmad stated.
The Bureau's ongoing cross-border child protection initiatives are being seen as a model of regional cooperation in safeguarding vulnerable minors.