At least two more incidents of missing children were reported in the city on Thursday.
The first incident involved a 10-year-old child Sohaib Kashif who went missing two days ago from Nishtar Colony.
In a separate incident 11-year-old Tooba went missing from Railway Colony. Tooba went to a shop to buy something yesterday evening after which she did not return.
Incidents of missing children from Punjab have been on the rise recently. More than a dozen children went missing from Badami baagh (garden) in the past few months alone. Last week, a child was discovered dead in the same area, who had reportedly been murdered after being tortured.
The police, meanwhile, maintains that not all of the missing children were kidnapped. Additional Inspector General Police Shahzada Sultan, citing statistics, said that during 2015 kidnapping cases of 1,134 children were registered in Punjab, of whom 1,093 were recovered. This year 681 cases have been registered, whereas 640 children have been recovered already.
READ MORE: 6,654 out 6,793 children recovered in Punjab in six years: Police
CPO Lahore’s claim is not much different from that of the IG. It states that social attitudes and domestic environment are more to blame for the children’s disappearance. Of the 208 missing children, 189 have been found whereas efforts are ongoing for the other 19.
Many of the missing children belong to poor families.
In the past six months, 312 children from Lahore alone and 652 children from all of Punjab have gone missing. According to official as well as unofficial reports, Lahore leads the list for the reported child kidnappings.