Three siblings rescued, search underway for boy 'sold to beggars'

KARACHI:

The Sindh Child Protection Authority has taken three minor siblings into protective custody and shifted them to a shelter home in Malir, while efforts continue to recover a fourth child, a 10-year-old boy allegedly handed over by his father to a group of beggars near Kala Pul in exchange for money.

All four children belong to a family from Ghotki district of Sindh. Their father, Amanullah, a former Sindh police constable, had been dismissed from service after prolonged absenteeism. In protest, he had been living with his family on the footpath outside the Karachi Press Club for the past three months.

The family's 14-year-old daughter, Aisha, and her younger siblings had been spending harsh winter nights under the open sky, surviving without shelter or resources. As their financial situation worsened, the children's mother, Sanam, who is paralysed and relies on a wheelchair, resorted to begging near Zainab Market in Saddar to feed her children. She said she had been begging for more than a month as the family had no other source of income.

During this period, Amanullah allegedly sold their 10-year-old son to a family of beggars at Kala Pul for a few thousand rupees. The child has reportedly been begging with the group for nearly three weeks. According to Sanam, she has not seen her son during this time because he remains with the people he was handed over to, day and night.

The Express Tribune contacted Sindh Social Welfare Minister Mir Tariq Talpur, who instructed the Sindh Child Protection Authority to intervene. Acting on his orders, a team visited the Karachi Press Club, took the three children into protective custody and transferred them to the Malir shelter home. Talpur said that the department is working to locate the fourth child and expects a breakthrough soon. "Our top priority is to ensure these children are moved to a safe environment," he said.