Sir: This refers to the article, “Missing children and missing pieces” (August 11, 2016) by Chris Cork in one of the leading newspapers, The Express Tribune. In that article, the writer has discussed at length the issue of missing children, and has scrutinised the stories according to which some of the missing children were being taken to have their organs harvested.
According to the writer, there is no first-hand account of a child being taken from the street, brought to a medical facility, ad-hoc or otherwise, had their organs removed, and then killed and their bodies dumped. Moreover, the writer has rightly said that there are enough willing donors to make kidnap-for-harvesting an unlikely option for organised criminals.
According to the writer, children who go missing and are reported as such are often recorded by the police as “abducted” regardless of the actual reason for their absence from the home. In order to address this issue, the Punjab police have presented a well-designed infographic that breaks down the various categories of missing children along with the resolution of their cases. Therefore, hats off to Punjab police as the move highlights that the police authorities are really concerned about the sensitivity of the issue.
Since we have seen a range of stories both on social media and in the mainstream about children who have gone missing, therefore, we all must check the source of such stories before sending or sharing any such news.
SHEHAR BANO SYED
Lahore