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Kidnapping of children on the rise

KARACHI - Cases of kidnapping of children have increased alarmingly in the country as more than 7,000 young children were reported kidnapped during 2011 with Karachi accounting for almost 40 per cent of abductions.

A report released to the media by the Human Rights Commission South Asia (HRCSA) said that 3,090 parents filed FIRs for missing children in Karachi in 2011 alone with 34 per cent of children were either enrolled in schools or religious seminaries.

Amongst the localities where most cases were reported included Gulshan-e-Iqbal and the relatively poor areas of Orangi Town, Baldia Town and Lyari. Most of the children were kidnapped or gone missing after they left for school and had not returned from their institution.

The report stated that poverty, physical and emotional abuse are often the major causes for children either running away from their homes or kidnapped by gangsters for ransom.

“These missing children often have limbs amputated or bodily maimed and used by gangs operating in major cities for begging. Others are also sold for prostitution and even to people abroad for hefty sums of money,” the report said.

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