UMERKOT: The blood curdling fear of abduction of children and use of their bodies in organ trade, which has gripped the entire country, has led to almost 50 per cent drop in children’s attendance in schools in the district.

The fear has further been fuelled and amplified by hoax calls, messages through mobile phones and rumors about attempts to abduct children in different villages and towns.

According to Karim Bux Shaikh, a senior teacher at Daro Kolhi primary and higher secondary school near here, media hype about stories of children’s abduction in Lahore and other cities of Punjab and use of their bodies in organ trade have naturally created panic among parents.

The social media had played a very irresponsible role in further amplifying the fear by circulating hoax messages without verification of facts, he said and saw it as an attempt to divert people’s attention from their real issues.

Manzoor Bhatti, owner of a Sindh Education Foundation-assisted school, said that out of 450 students only 90 attended the school that day. The hoax messages and calls had panicked the parents who had restrained their children’s movement even at the cost of their education, he said.

A number of teachers in different villages of the district, who did not wish to be named, said that the drop in attendance was between 30 and 70 per cent over the past week.

It had now almost become a practice on the part of parents to call them beforehand and ask whether they should send their children to school or not, they said.

Sanaullah Kunbhar, a parent in Jakhra village, confessed that he had himself stopped his three children from going to school after he learnt that an attempt was made in the neighbouring village, Khejrari, to abduct a boy a day before. Later, when they made inquiries about the news it proved to be a hoax, he said.

Umerkot SSP Usman Aijaz Bajwa said that hoax and distress calls, complaints and mobile phone messages about attempted kidnappings had made policemen edgy as they often had to rush to villages, wade through swamps and standing crops and sneak into deserted places in search of elusive kidnappers.

He dismissed reports about attempts of children’s abduction as unfounded and baseless and said that no kidnapping had taken place in the district since the circulation of such messages.

He said that two children who had run away from Kunri four days back were found in Karachi, two others who had escaped from Mirwah for fear of a seminary teacher reached Umerkot and were handed over to their parents. There were no reports besides them of any children missing or getting kidnapped in the district, he said.

Leaders of civil society said that the fear of children’s abduction had so gripped people’s minds that even when a stranger stopped near a group of children to ask about someone or an address or ask for water he was presumed to be an abductor.

If they sensed any danger, however flimsy and unfounded, they would start running after him and attack him without informing police. The situation needed to be controlled, otherwise, it would continue to breed fear and lead to further chaos, they cautioned.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2016