LAHORE: The provincial government on Friday insisted in the Punjab Assembly that neither has there been any exceptional rise in child abduction nor any organised gang found behind it nor any organ trade, which otherwise medical impossibility, has been proven.

Starting the debate on law and order, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said categorically that all this propaganda was led by the social media which was dominated by a certain group of people with a particular political bias.

He said none of them could prove their figures when they were approached.

House condemns terrorist attack on Christian Colony

“All these propagandists could have been persecuted under the new cyber law, but the chief minister restricted his officials to serving warnings, for being their first crime under the new law. However, if they continue, things could be different.”

Quoting last six years’ figures, the law minister claimed a total of 6,793 children were reported missing and 6,661 of them returned to their homes subsequently, leaving only 132 children missing during the period.

According to official analysis, at least 44 per cent children run away from their homes due to harsh behavior of parents, 7.6pc leave homes because of parental conflicts while 21pc fall in lost and found category. But an overwhelming majority returns anyway.

In year 2011, at least 1,272 children were reported missing and 1,264 later returned to their homes. In 2012, the figure was 1,260 and 1,256. Next year, it was 1,157 and 1,141. In 2014, at least 1,203 kids ran away and 1,185 came back and 2015 witnessed 1,234 going missing and 1,194 returning subsequently. In the first seven months of 2016, 767 went missing and 715 came back to their homes.

Where is the exceptional rise being propagated by the media -- social, electronic and print? “Should not those socially destabilizing the country be falling in the same category where other such destabilizers (terrorists and criminals) are placed?”

On the National Action Plan (NAP), he said that those taking its execution as switching on and off of a computer are grossly mistaken. “It is an on-going process which will continue even after achieving the desired results. It is the basic reform and monitoring process that will never stop.

In the last few years, as many as 61,228 combing operations have been carried out and 2.44 million people went through the screening process and 11,360 cases registered.

The Counter Terrorism Department, aided by other law enforcing agencies, Rangers and the army included, killed around 40 terrorists and 69 more are facing courts. Over 144 criminals, carrying head-money, have also been killed.”

“Each and every seminary has been registered, their students and teachers screened, their funding sources identified and being monitored,” Rana told the House.

The Punjab houses 15,783 such seminaries, having 1.1 million students (over 300,000 living in them and rest being day scholars). All of them are now part of the geographical tagging system of the government.

At the next stage, each mosque in the province has also been registered, and the process is almost complete.

One wonders how could the government be blamed for failing on NAP, he asked and added: “Of course, except for political expediency, which dictates keeping the country off balance through propaganda, protests and every available means.”

Mian Mehmoodur Rashid, Leader of the Opposition, was also surprised why the government saw a conspiracy in everything, even in a march against corruption.

“The law minister is mentally caught in tomorrow’s march of the PTI that he cannot differentiate between destabilization of the country and effort to eradicate corruption. Corruption-free countries are more stable, not unstable, he kept telling the Treasury, and assured it: “You will be safe. Nothing extra political or constitutional will happen to you or this country. But you should also accept your failures and law and order tops them all. The police budget and crime are rising. If the government cannot correlate both, there is something wrong with it.”

Earlier, the Treasury faced some awkward moments at the start of the debate on law and order but none of the major player to monitor provincial crime scene (the law minister, and Inspector General of Police or the Home Secretary) were found in the House.

Once pointed out by the opposition, the chair realized the gravity of the situation and suspended proceedings for 15 minutes, allowing the law minister enough time to reach the House.

The House was prorogued after adopting a unanimous resolution condemning the terrorist attack on the Christian Colony of Warsak Dam, offering prayers for the killed and praising law enforcing agencies for heroic effort in foiling the attack.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2016