GUJAR KHAN, Oct 17: A shocking realisation of the financial crunch being faced by common citizens came when a poor couple abandoned not only one but all their three children in a rented house they have been living in for some months.

The incident occurred in Ward No. 19 of the Gujar Khan city where three children were found alone in a small house.

Attracted by the minors’ cries, the neighbours came to know that a four-year-old girl, her three-year-old brother and an eight-month-old sister had been abandoned by their parents, who left the house taking all the belongings with them.

The eldest of the children, Uzma, told the neighbours that her father, Mahmood, and mother left the house on Friday morning. Uzma said the name of her brother was Ibrahim and that of the sister was Deeba.

Raja Zulqarnain, a local councilor, took the children to the local police station in the evening and asked for help in finding out the whereabouts of their parents.

When this reporter contacted the police, duty officer Mohammad Asghar said the police were able to trace out the children’s grandfather, who was unaware of the act of his son-in-law. He had no knowledge of the couple’s whereabouts.

According to the police, the father of these abandoned children was a daily-wage worker earning a living by white washing houses.

Meanwhile, the grandfather took the children into his custody.