Child Protection And Recuse Centres To Help Parents Of Missing Kids

Child Protection Response Centres (CPRC), functional as a dedicated facility at three different police stations of Karachi are fast establishing themselves as an efficient support facility for many of the haggard parents in search of their missing children

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Dec, 2018 ) :Child Protection Response Centres (CPRC), functional as a dedicated facility at three different police stations of Karachi are fast establishing themselves as an efficient support facility for many of the haggard parents in search of their missing children.

A joint project of Karachi Police and local NGOs turned operational during past three to six months time with the motive to facilitate the aggrieved parents is fast gaining public confidence through steady increase in the number of cases reported to these CPRCs.

These centres can be registered helping complainants, often with negligible resources, in publication of photographs of their missing child in local dailies, distribution of posters carrying sketches and relevant details at public places as well as at inter-city bus/railways stations besides transmitting control (wireless) message about the case to police station across the province.

"In case of need we even sent our teams to other provinces and helped recovery of abducted children from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtukhawa," claimed SSP - Karachi Police, Irfan Bahadur.

The officer actively involved in materializing project at its pilot phase and its execution in the initial phase talking to APP said CPRC a brain child of Karachi Police Chief, AIG Dr. Amir A Shaikh is to restore public confidence on the department.

Acknowledging that dedicated services being provided at Saddar Town, New Town and Khawja Ajmer Nagri police stations needed to be further streamlined, Bahadur said adequate attention is being paid towards personnel training and capacity building of the deputed staff.

Despite this the performance of these CPRCs can not be under estimated as of the 188 reported cases of missing children (new born to 17 years) 164 could be recovered during a little over two months while 20 FIRs were registered during the same period.

Record of the other two centres revealed that 70% of the missing children were reunited with their parents.

"Communication skills of police personnel need lot of improvement as often their attitude appears to be quite intimidating for any regular citizen," said Zahid Ahmed, a human rights activist.

Muhammad Ali Coordinator, Roshni Helpline for Safe Recovery of Missing children, facilitating the concerned parents at Saddar Women Police Station was of the view that CPRCs were providing much needed support to many of the families with nil resources to retrieve their lost children.

Parents visiting these centres were of the view that staffers need to understand that term "Missing Children" holds a wide connotation ranging from runaways (those who may have themselves abandoned their families); lost way to home owing to their tender age; abducted for ransom or trafficking; kidnapped for adoption and so-forth.

Taking to exception the practice under which police simply refuse to register FIRs against their complaints they said FIR registration expedites the search process.

"Time is essence is each and every reported cases but particularly for boys of 10 or below and girls under 12 to 13 years," agreed activist Muhammad Ali.

Emphasizing that it must be incumbent upon the officials at CPRCs to urgently register FIRs for the concerned cases, he said they are often those who are victims of kidnappers and do not fall under the category of runaways.

"As soon as the families notice disappearance of their children they immediately start search in their vicinity, approach relative and friends coupled with announcements via mosques and once they fail in their effort approach the police," said the activist on basis of his years long experience.

Emphasizing that these cases are that of kidnapping, Ali said "Abduction for Ransom," itself falls under Section 365 -A (Anti Terrorism Act).

Inspector Ahmed Ali, however, reiterated that all cases can not be good enough for FIR registration as often family dispute, strained relationship between parents, forced labour lead to instances of run aways.

"There is also a growing surge in the instances when these children reaching their puberty are found to elope with some one of their own age group," said the personnel.

He, however, appeared to forget that as per law FIRs related to disappearance of children below 14 can be registered under Section 364-A and that of girl child under 364 - B requiring immediate investigation and search of the concerned child.

Despite clear legal injunctions most of the house officers appear to be reluctant to register first information report as they fear it may affect their performance record.

"More the number of FIRs more the proof of surge in the crime rate in their respective areas of jurisdiction," commented a concerned citizen.

Dr. Ayehsha Mehnaz, former head of pediatrics department Dow University of Health Sciences said parents in particular and community in general can not absolve themselves of their responsibilities towards well being and security of their children.

"Concerted efforts are needed to contain such instances with equal attention towards medical, emotional and psychological rehabilitation of the affected kids," said the child specialist working for the cause to protect children against abuse.

SSP Irfan Bahadur said the department is in constant process of fine tuning the performance of these centres as room for improvements does exist in every sphere.

He appreciated Roshni Helpline for Missing Children, Edhi Trust, Saim Burney Trust and other NGOs for their support to the cause that holds a diverse denomination.