Kashana mystery unsolved one year on

LAHORE: Afshan Latif, former superintendent Kashana shelter home for destitute girls in Lahore, continues to protest against the alleged exploitation she exposed of girls a year ago and the failure of the government to nab the culprits who were clearly pointed out by her.

She had filed a complaint on the Pakistan Citizen Portal which was ironically marked to the accused to look into the case. “ (In my case the criminals became the judge), Afshan Latif wrote on Pakistan Citizen Portal. She demands closure of Pakistan Citizen Portal as it misleads complainants and wastes their time. Afshan Latif wrote a letter to the PM, CM and CJ saying whatever was going on in Kashana was not right. She was suspended from service on August 16, 2019 though she looked after the affairs of Kashana till Nov 29, 2019 when the police came to take her and asked her to withdraw the allegations against the powerful people but she said the girls at shelter home were at risk because of their interference in its affairs. Felt pushed to the wall, not knowing what the police visit entailed for her, she released a video message on November 29, 2019 that went viral and the she was handed over transfer letter. Since then she has refused to give up her demand for taking the rogue elements to task.

A girl who died in Bilqees Edhi Home in Green Town on Feb 5, this year in mysterious circumstances. She came to Kashana in 2016, was married off from here in June 2019 and died in Edhi home in February 2020. She was brought by Baghbanpura police to Edhi home in Green Town on 17.1.2020. She was allegedly taken away by unnamed people in official vehicle from her husband’s home. Her postmortem report said she was starved to death otherwise all her organs were intact.

There is need to appoint a wider range of members to inspection committees. Finding the right people is important because earlier all the inspection team members were from the government. There is a need to induct local volunteers like teachers, responsible citizens and even parents in local communities in every district in the inspection team.