Where do we stand?

(Shahnawaz Sarmad, Lahore)

We are a very emotional nation and over-react to certain issues, especially when the case is about the most sensitive part of the society, “our children”. Media hype has created unnecessary scare and a false perception that there are gangs roaming around to abduct children. Although so far, not a single organized gang is identified. More than 50 false reports have been relayed by electronic media during last two weeks. Media must verify facts before sending out a report. The pictures of abducted children from other countries with fabricated news posted on Pakistani social media, only to gain internet traffic are shared hundreds of times without any verification. Such irresponsible behavior of the citizens is misleading others folks. In a state of fear, terror and insecurity public have become extra-vigilant and has adopted a no-tolerance policy regarding child abduction issue. This has resulted in beating-up of more than 50 innocent citizens on unverified allegations of kidnapping during recent week. The public is not supposed to set their own street courts or take the law into their own hands.

Stories of children kidnapping for organ transplant are proved to be baseless as according to the medical experts, the transplantation of children organs is practically not possible due to many reasons. Organs of the children are not mature enough to be transplanted to another person. Tissue matching is also a vital requirement for the transplant which cannot be done easily. Most importantly, transplantation is impossible without the help of expert surgeons and advanced medical facilities. Even Pakistan has only a few hospitals where transplantation is done. So it does not seem right to say that there is any child abduction for organ transplantation.

It is not a criminal phenomenon, but a complex socio-economic issue for which a comprehensive child protection policy is required. It is established that cases in which a child goes missing or leaves home on his own are highest in number. While cases in which a child is lured or abducted by unknown persons are small in number.

According to a news report of International Business Times, UK, top five countries with the highest rates of kidnapping are India, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia and Haiti.

You see Pakistan is not the only country where children go missing, our very close neighbor and archrival India is topping the list. According to the Indian home ministry, every year more than 100,000 kids go missing in India. Where total number of untraced children in 2015 was 62,988 as against 34,244 in the year 2013, resulting in around 84 per cent rise in the number of children who went missing and remain untraced across the country between 2013 and 2015. If population is an issue, then one could look at China, the most populous nation, where official figures put the number of missing children at around 10,000 every year.

In Germany, every year more than 100,000 children and adolescents are reported missing, official website of the German Government about missing children states. Each year in Italy police forces receive over 3,000 reports concerning missing children. There are currently 226 missing kids in UK, 153 in Canada and 196 in South Korea listed on their official websites.

USA alone holds the ratio of missing children more than the sum of all of the said countries. According to the FBI, in 2015 there were 460,699 National Crime Information Center entries for missing children. Similarly, in 2014, the total number of missing children entries into NCIC was 466,949.

Now if we compare the numbers with the province of Punjab in Pakistan, during 2011-16, total 6793 children went missing, out of which 6661 were recovered or the returned on their own. This shows the recovery rate as 98% and only around 132 children are still not traced. There were 23 cases of children kidnapping for ransom involving 24 abductees in 2015, out of which 21 children were recovered and unfortunately 3 were killed. This year up to July, only 4 such cases are registered and all 4 abductees are recovered without any human loss. Despite being the largest province by population, Punjab still maintains good law and order situation and the issue of child abduction seems to be a seasonal hype.

Punjab government needs to implement a comprehensive strategy to tackle such situations. Information sharing mechanism needs to be improved; public awareness campaign should be launched to bring the people out of the state of panic and fear by sharing with them the real picture. Strict legal action against the people drubbing the innocent citizens on allegations of kidnapping should continue so that it would not lead to the mass protests or riots based on false accusations.

Shahnawaz Sarmad
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