Missing schoolgirls from Dadu found safe in Mirpurkhas

HYDERABAD:

Three Class VIII schoolgirls from Sindh's Dadu district, who were reported missing last week, have been recovered safely from Mirpurkhas after an extensive police search prompted by the provincial police chief's intervention.

The girls - Roshni Teenwano, Fatima Janwri, and Tanzeela Panhwar - were produced before the relevant court on Tuesday along with Zain Mahar, a young man arrested during the investigation. In their statements before the court, the girls said they had left their hometown voluntarily and travelled first to Hyderabad before proceeding to Mirpurkhas, where they stayed at a friend's house. They also told the court that they did not know Zain Mahar and denied any association with him.

The girls had been reported missing by their families, who lodged separate FIRs at the B-Section Police Station in Mehar taluka and feared they had been abducted.

Following the registration of the cases, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Javed Alam Odho took notice of the incident, after which Dadu Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) constituted a special team to trace the missing girls. Investigators tracked their mobile phone locations from Jamshoro to Hyderabad before eventually locating them in Mirpurkhas.