LAHORE: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has sought recommendations from the Punjab government – prepared with the help of the civil society – for welfare of children and to get rid of children’s abduction. The apex court during suo motu proceedings on Monday directed the Punjab advocate general to submit the government’s suggestions. The bench took the matter of two minor girls of Shujaabad, who went missing in 2011 and could not be recovered so far. On the request of police, the court gave one-month time to recover the girls. The bench remarked that it was the responsibility of the state to provide basic facilities of health and education. The bench observed that it was the social, cultural and economic problem of the society and there was a need to work in slum areas for raising awareness about welfare of children. The apex court remarked that the government had done nothing for welfare of masses. “In the absence of census, we have no figures about how many people are living in our country and what are their needs,” the bench remarked. The apex court had taken suo motu notice of kidnapping incidents on August 3 and had constituted a high level committee headed by the Punjab advocate general to inquire about recovery of kidnapped children. The Punjab inspector general of police had submitted a report that during 2011 to 2016 in Punjab 6,793 children were abducted out of which 6,654 had been recovered and investigation was under process on 139 cases. The report added that 767 children were abducted in 2016 out of which 715 had been recovered while investigations were underway to trace remaining children.