PoK: Child kidnapping gets backed by corrupt officers in Gilgit-Baltistan

GILGIT-BALTISTAN: The negligence of the administration of Gilgit-Baltistan over the kidnapping case of an 11-year-old girl Falak Noor has given rise to aggression amongst the locals of Sultanabad.

The family of the victim also alleges that such ignorance on the police's part is because the kidnapped girl was the daughter of a laborer Sakhi Ahmed Jaan, and the accused belongs to the higher starta of society.

Sakhi while explaining how his daughter got kidnapped said, "My daughter was kidnapped on January 20 and since then, no significant investigation has been done. They have either given land or have bribed all the authorities and because of these corrupt people my daughter is still not found. And I demand that the case of my daughter to be transferred to another investigation officer as I believe that like this I will get no result."

The mother of Noor alleged that "The police are doing nothing, they have taken bribes and hence they are just sitting on the matter. About a week has passed since the day of the kidnapping, and still, they have not done anything to find her. I am not that financially capable of paying any bribes to the police, we are a poor family, my husband works as a daily wager and we are barely managing all our expenses."

"My daughter was a studious one, she always used to secure top ranks in her class. We have to manage rent for this house and we don't even own land so we don't earn much. Soon the off-season in my husband's job is approaching, he will again become unemployed for over two to three months soon we also have to manage that time. Hence we are not able to get any bribes for law enforcement to do our work," she added.

The brother-in-law of Khan, Abdul Latif said "Me and the father of Noor have been running around in circles for some time now. They say that they have investigated but no development or arrests have been done till now. We have brought the matter to the notice of IGP, DIG, and SP of Danyor, and other nearby cities, but nothing has happened till now. The people whom we had accused for the act still remain free. No one is helping us, and they are still not arrested.

All the accused belong to the higher society, and the police instead of getting our daughter back, are forcing us to compromise in return for some land and PKR 15 lakh. People keep telling us that our girl is in some town of Gilgit only Allah and the police know where our daughter is."

A local social worker while explaining the case stated Latif and Jaan had gone to him and explained the entire matter. He had asked the victim's family to submit a written application and go to court if the police is not helping.

The social worker further mentioned that "we have done the required paperwork and have sent letters to all related authorities, but we have noticed that the police has not produced any of the victims in court even after receiving arrest orders. The law is clear in this case, the Child Restraint Act 1929 is accepted nationally and then there are supporting laws to stop any such case of forced child marriage.

Now, the demands of this father is totally correct and legal as per the law. The police just need to produce Noor in front of the court and then let the court decide. But in this case the police itself is ignorant. And we will continuously keep writing to designated authorities until this father is helped. And we will demand that the court should provide this man with a pro bono lawyer."

 The social worker further mentioned that the law enforcement agencies would have acted very differently if the victim was someone from a higher society.