Sudden disappearances

A dozen kidnapping cases registered in Islamabad in a single day should alarm the capital's police authorities. The incidents involve a newborn taken from PIMS Hospital, a teenage boy allegedly abducted from his home, several young women who disappeared, and two drivers who went missing along with vehicles. Whether every case ultimately proves to be an abduction is for investigators to establish. What cannot be ignored is the sheer number of families who turned to the police on the same day.

The question is why so many people can disappear in a city that has invested heavily in surveillance and policing. Islamabad has a dense network of cameras and a police force that regularly highlights improvements in its crime-fighting capabilities. Yet technology is of little value if it does not translate into rapid intervention. In cases involving children, every hour matters. There are several possible explanations for the apparent rise in such reports. Some disappearances may involve family disputes, voluntary departures, elopement or other circumstances that are initially reported as kidnapping. Others may involve genuine abductions, criminal exploitation or attempts to obtain ransom. The police must establish these distinctions through proper investigation rather than allowing all missing-person cases to be treated alike. But neither should an abduction be prematurely reduced to a domestic matter simply because the circumstances are unclear.

Islamabad Police needs to tell citizens what is happening. A single day's cases may eventually prove to be unrelated. But when so many families report disappearances at once, the burden is on the authorities to establish whether there is a wider pattern. Residents of the capital should not have to wonder whether their police force is discovering crimes after they happen or preventing them before they do. Security is ultimately measured by how quickly the state responds when someone disappears.