Father rescues his missing children from the streets

A 47-year-old worker recovers his kidnapped children after they were sold into beggary in Sargodha.

FAISALABAD: A 47-year-old worker, on Wednesday, recovered his kidnapped children after they were sold into beggary in Sargodha.

Labourer Mohammad Khan lived near Sargodha Road bypass and told reporters that six years ago his relatives kidnapped his wife, mother-in-law and six children.

“They took them away when I wasn’t home. I was working in the fields,” Khan said, adding that when he returned home he found the house empty and neighbours confirmed that the family had been taken by his relatives.

“We told him that we saw his children and wife leaving with his brother-in-law and some cousins. We had seen them visit him often so we didn’t really think much of it,” Khan’s neighbour Rafiq said, adding that Khan was distraught when he heard the news.

“I had been threatened by my brother-in-law, who is much wealthier than I but I never thought they would take away my family,” he said.

Khan said that his family had been kidnapped from his house in his village near Chiniot. “They were sold off to a rich man in Bhera called Ameer Khan,” he said.

According to Khan, Ameer abused the family and frequently beat his children. “They made us work in the house but we were all together,” said Khan’s daughter Razia.

Ameer sold off the family after three months to a merchant in Sargodha named Sikandar. “Sikandar used to make us beg for him.

Every morning he would drop all six children off near the central chowk in Sargodha and would drive off,” Khan’s five-year-old son Amanat said, adding that his mother and grandmother worked in Sikandar’s house. “After a year my mother and grandmother died. They were brutally beaten almost every day and their bodies were buried while we were out on the streets begging,” Razia said, adding that when she and her siblings asked about their whereabouts they were threatened by Sikandar and his men.

“We were told to keep quiet otherwise we would die too,” one of the siblings said. According to the children one of their brothers also died soon after their mother. “He was also kept behind at the house to work for Sikandar,” Razia said in tears.

“I spent four years making daily trips to the Chiniot city jail but the police refused to even register the case,” Mohammad Khan said, adding that he eventually decided to follow all the trails he could himself and look for his children.

“I travelled from Chiniot to Sargodha and tracked down my children,” Khan said, adding that he and his friend spent two days observing Sikandar. “We knew we couldn’t take him on, so one day when he dropped off the children at the chowk I recovered them and brought them home,” he said.

“I have only half of my family left now but I am glad I decided to take matters into my own hands,” Khan said, telling reporters that the police was still refusing to file a case against the culprits even after they had been identified.

“We weren’t the only children that Sikandar had bought. There were several others.

Every night he would lock us into a room and there were over twenty of us and the next morning a Suzuki ‘dabba’ would come and take us to the chowk after Fajar prayers,” Razia said, adding that she was glad to finally be home.

“We never thought we would see our father again but we are glad he managed to find us,” Amanat said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2010.