Kidnapping of children not serious issue: IGP

LAHORE

Inspector General Punjab Police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukherha said on Saturday the kidnapping of children was not a serious issue and it had been wrongly portrayed by media because most of the children ran away from their homes due to harsh attitudes of their parents.

The IGP claimed that the police had recovered many runaway children from railway stations, shrines and bus stands in big cities while many of them were still in different centres.

He said parents would be taken to the centres for identification of their children. He expressed these views while briefing members of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

The IGP, however, admitted that only 2 per cent of the children were kidnapped but police had also overcome the situation.

On other hand, Supreme Court Bar Association President Barrister Syed Ali Zafar said he was convinced by the IGP that the situation was not out of control.

“It is not as we were thinking; we thought perhaps the children are being kidnapped by terrorist organisations, “ said Barrister Zafar.

He said, however, they would verify the facts shared by the IGP and would issue a complete report on it on Monday.

The bar president said the IGP claimed that they had recovered most of the children from different places.

He said after the IGP’s briefing he was contended that children were not being kidnapped by any terrorist organisation or by any other group for begging and abuse.

policy: The inspector general of police, Punjab, has given final approval to a policy aimed at curbing the increasing number of kidnappings in the province.

The decision came at a high-level meeting held at Central Police Office, Lahore, on Saturday.

All field officers have been directed to implement the new policy to the best of their abilities.

Under the policy, all SHOs would be bound to register an FIR whenever a child is reported missing, irrespective of the circumstances of the incident.

The SHOs have also been asked to play a more active role in investigating any reported kidnappings and to constantly stay in touch with the investigation officer concerned. meat seized: Mujahid Squad claimed to have arrested two persons at Babu Sabu, Sherakot, police picket and seized unhygienic meat.  The arrested accused were identified as Nazeer and Aziz.