24 March 2004	Wednesday	02 Safar 1425

KARACHI, March 23: Collecting mutilated bodies of infants, killed in a variety of gruesome ways and at times eaten away by stray animals, from garbage dumps of the city is all in day's work for Edhi volunteers. Inured to seeing the victims of barbarism, these volunteers discharge their duties without cringing with disgust and revulsion.

"Quite often people throw acid on infants to get rid of the 'little angels' labelled love children by society," says Rizwan Edhi of the Edhi Foundation. An abandoned infant was even subjected to stoning at the steps of a mosque a few years back, after clergyman declared him illicit and issued his death warrant.

Recalling the incident, Rizwan Edhi said that an abandoned new born, found on the steps of the mosque, was stoned to death about eight years back in Khamosh Colony, Nazimabad. He was declared 'a curse on the earth' in a decree issued on spot by the prayer leader of the mosque. The Edhi official said that the incident took place at the time of morning prayers.

The mother of the infant, who might have not wanted the child to die, had abandoned him at the steps of mosque thinking that the new born would land in safe hands, Rizwan Edhi said.

He said that the infant died on the spot and was buried later by the Edhi Foundation. As the tragic incident went unreported, he added, the callous murder was not put on record and subsequently no FIR was registered with the police station concerned.

Most recently a few-hour-old body of an infant was found from a deserted place in Quaidabad. The rescue worker, who found the infant, described infant girl's body was charred and decomposed.

Similarly, a new born was found dead in a garbage dump in Lyari on Feb 20. The body of another infant was recently found from a garbage dump in Nazimabad. Most of such infants are strangled and dumped in garbage piles or isolated places. Some of them die of starvation.

The Edhi Foundation believed that new born babies, found abandoned or dead, were either an outcome of extra-marital affairs or they could not be brought up owing to sheer destitution.

"New born, abandoned at different places, are innocents and they should not be punished of what their parents did," a senior representative of a non-governmental organization said.

A senior official of the Edhi Foundation said, "Such incidents are not new or shocking for us, as we often encounter the height of human cruelty." During February, a similar body of an eight-day-old girl was found near Neher-i-Khayyam, Clifton. "As the body was decomposed, we buried it without wasting any moment," a volunteer said.

According to Maulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, when he started his campaign not to kill the unwanted infants, instead drop them into cradles fixed outside Edhi Centres, he faced severe criticism from some religious circles.

"I have been charged of promoting what is forbidden by Islam. I am merely trying to save precious lives and urge the clerics to stop people from committing sins," Mr Edhi said.

Fifteen years ago, a lawyer had brought an infant, found from Sharifabad, to the Edhi Home at Sohrab goth. "The same boy, Jamal, is now working at the Edhi Tower Centre and carrying on with his studies as well," Rizwan Edhi said. Apart from this, he added, over 15,000 babies had been given for adoption to couples through out the country.

He said that the Edhi Foundation had collected 31,000 bodies of infants so far from different parts of the country. Girls comprise 80 per cent of the alive or dead bodies found from garbage dumps, he added.

Often such infants are killed by acid, small mutilated body parts are also found from the garbage dumps as unfortunate infants are eaten away by cats and dogs, if they are not spotted by some kind-hearted person, Rizwan Edhi added.

During the last year, the Edhi Foundation buried 281 bodies of infants throughout the country, these bodies were found in bad shape from garbage heaps and drains. The figure of such deaths had sharply gone down over the years and a significant number of babies were being brought to the Edhi Centres, said Bilqis Edhi.

"Generally, our society tends to ignore these infant killings and try to shove it under the carpet, pretending as nothing has happened," remarked Rizwan Edhi. He said that the cases of newly born babies been eaten away by stray animals often go unreported even in the local press. This reflected society's apathy towards the issue, he observed.

He said that the Edhi Foundation had installed cradles outside each centre throughout the city to encourage people to place the abandoned babies in them instead of dumping them at desolated places endangering their lives. Moreover, he said that dozens of such babies could be saved if only people started placing babies in these cradles.

Bilqis Edhi said that the babies, received by the Edhi Foundation, could be adopted by childless couples on certain conditions. Every month, hundreds of women used to visit Edhi Child Home in Mithadar seeking babies for adoption, she said. However, she added that this responsibility could not be given without personally assessing the prospective parents.

She said that babies were handed over for adoption only after complete satisfaction that the couple seeking babies could properly brought up the infant. "We thoroughly interview the childless couple and ensure that they are educated, earn a good livelihood, and have a long standing marriage of at least 10 to 15 years," Bilqis Edhi said.

"We also visit the residence of the couple to assess their living conditions and avoid giving a child to a couple who is constantly on move and do not have a permanent residence," she added.

An official of Edhi Foundation said, "We politely refuse to couples seeking adoption where husband threatens his wife with divorce for not bearing a child, in such case we cannot risk a child's future by handing him or her to an unstable prospective father."

He further said that the foundation did not give child to couples with foreign nationality. "At least one spouse should have Pakistani nationality in case if other is a foreign national," he maintained. At present, several children who were given for adoption to prospering couples by the Edhi Foundation were studying abroad, he added.