Daily Times

LAHORE: Rwadari Tehreek, a social movement aimed at forming a peaceful society, held a protest in front of Punjab Assembly on Saturday to draw attention of the government and law enforcement agencies towards the enormous increase in child abduction incidents witnessed and reported in media in past few months across the city.

The protest was led by Rwadari Tehreek Chairman Samson Salamat and was participated by the affected families and prominent social and political activists, including Institute of Peace and Secular Studies (IPSS) Chairperson Saeeda Diep, MPA Sadia Sohail Rana, Rwadari Tehreek Secretary General Umar Farooq, President Iftikhar Rasool, Punjab President Sabira Asmat, Lahore Vice President Rizwan Gill, and Rwadari Tehreek Core Committee members Zameer Afaqi, Naseer Ahmed and Samuel Pyara.

The Rwadari Tehreek chairman, while addressing the protest, said, “The situation in Lahore is alarming due to the frequent incidents of abduction of children and adolescents and there exists an atmosphere of terror, particularly in the Badami Bagh/Data Nagar area, where almost 20 children were abducted in July, out of which four were found dead.”

Salamat urged the government functionaries and the concerned departments including law enforcement agencies, Ministry of Human Rights and Child Protection Bureau to turn their eye towards this important issue and take immediate action for the safe recovery of the abducted children.

On the occasion, the participants demanded the government to hold judicial inquiry to probe the objectives behind the frequent abduction of children, safe and immediate recovery of the abducted children and a financial compensation to the victim families, besides evolving a concrete policy to stop such crimes in future.