Pakistan: Mystery surrounding Fata girls in Karachi

So far, few details have emerged about the scandalous discovery of 26 small girls aged between five and 11 from a house in a Karachi neighbourhood. According to media reports, all 26 of them from the tribal areas Bajaur Agency lived sardined into a two-room madrassah housed in a property whose owner owed some money to the madrassah proprietor. The money dispute is irrelevant to the context, though. The question that begs an answer is, who are these girls? The police say they would hand over them over only to their parents, which is fine. It is hard to believe though that any parents would hand over Pushto-speaking little girls to anyone to be taken all the way from the one end of the country to the other for religious education. Maybe they are orphans of the war going on in their part of the country. It is possible also that they were abducted and sold to someone. But who brought them to Karachi, and why? These questions may soon have answers since the seminary teacher is also in police custody. They should know or be able to provide clues as to the identity of those involved. Bajaur Agency's assistant political agent too is reported to have arrived in Karachi to help find the parents. 

It will not be enough for the police and Fata administration to find these children's parents. The federal government responsible for administrating the tribal areas as well as Sindh government within whose jurisdiction they have been staying for the last four months for whatever purpose must launch proper investigations into the case, pin responsibility, and provide necessary care and protection to the girls. Distressingly, however, it does not seem to be an isolated case, considering that once the police got active another seven girls were recovered the same day from a separate location. Those girls wore a different colour uniform, which shows that they belong to a different group. There might be still other groups of children, boys as well, plucked from the fog and confusion prevailing in the tribal areas due to the conflict situation and mass-scale population displacement. It won't be surprising if moreFata children have similarly been brought to Karachi or some other parts of the country. In fact it may well be an organised activity. In any case, it is a matter of serious concern that children should be taken from their homes to be given religious instructions in far-flung seminaries. The county is already paying a heavy price for allowing unregistered and unsupervised seminaries to indoctrinate young minds with extremist ideologies. Hopefully, the present case will serve as an eye-opener for the federal and provincial governments, and lead to effective measures aimed at stopping misuse of children for spreading extremist ideas.