KARACHI: The class seven student of a private school with one arm in a plaster and sling missed his Urdu exam because he is in the police lock-up. The boy and his two friends have been arrested on the suspicion of being involved in the disappearance of three class nine schoolgirls.

Two of the three girls were escorted to school by the mother of one on Friday morning.” Her mother was not feeling well so after walking our youngest daughter half way to school, she called out to the mother of her class fellow to drop her, too,” said Syed Mukarram Hussain, the father of one of the girls.

“But after she didn’t come home from school, we found out that both my daughter, our neighbour’s daughter and their third friend and class fellow have been marked absent in class as they were never there,” the father said.

“We kept trying their mobile phone numbers and then someone picked up my daughter’s phone although they didn’t say anything before disconnecting.”

Meanwhile, at the other girl’s home her mother Hajra Ziad was inconsolable. She would look at her daughter’s picture in her phone again and again and pray for her safe recovery. “She is my only child. I walked her to school every day. On Friday I had the responsibility of two girls as her friend’s mother, who is also my friend, requested me to drop off her daughter, too. I stood at the school gates till both children were inside. Then I left,” she cried.

“Someone tell me how or why they came outside again? Why did the school guard permit it? I was there at the gate again at 12.30pm to pick them up but was informed they never came to class. Then I found out that their third class fellow and friend also vanished with them,” she said.

“My daughter is extremely naive. Her entire life is her school and home. She looks older than her 14 years but is really a very simple child who loves her pets and to watch little children playing in our lane as she has always longed for a younger brother or sister,” the mother said.

Meanwhile, the third girl’s parents declined to talk to the media. All the girls live in close proximity to their school. They have been good friends since they were first enrolled in this school at the kindergarten level.

“We went to the police station when the children couldn’t be traced. No one there was interested in helping us so we approached the Rangers, who then accompanied us to the police station,” said Kamran Hussain, one of the girls’ uncle.

“Please tell us why no one knows anything? There are shops with CCTV cameras installed here and there. Didn’t they capture something?” the uncle said.

Meanwhile, the three boys languishing in police custody are aged 12, 16 and 18. The 16-year-old, who just did his matriculation this year, said that a year ago he was approached by his neighbour’s daughter with a message that her friend liked his 12-year-old friend. “But when my friend saw her from afar, he realised she was much older than him.

Then she started sending messages to my older, 18-year-old, friend, who is doing a diploma course from Polytechnic Institute. But all this happened last year. Most of their text messages in our phones are also one year old. There is only one recent message of Oct 11, where she speaks of running away, and which we did not respond to,” he said.

“Actually, I used to lend my phone to our youngest friend for him to keep in touch when going to school in Baloch Colony as it is a bit far. When I saw him chatting with the girl who wanted to befriend him, I scolded him and took my phone back from him. Then she started sending me messages,” said the eldest of the trio.

“Yesterday, one of the girls’ older sister called us up crying. She said her sister was missing with her two classmates and wanted to know if we knew anything about this. We wanted to help in whatever way that we could so we went to their house and showed the old phone messages still in our phone to their parents. The next thing we know, we have been picked up by the police.

Police and CPLC sources said they had some leads and clues which suggested that this may not be a case for kidnapping and that the girls might have gone away of their own will. Investigators with the help of modern technology have reached the conclusion that they were planning to run away from home.

The Sindh IGP has taken notice of the girls’ disappearance and has directed the DIG-East to submit a comprehensive report about the incident. He has also directed the police to treat the parents with respect and ensure provision of justice. The Sindh CM has also taken notice of the incident and sought a detailed report.

The girls’ school has also informed police that as per their school register the girls did not attend school on Friday.

Published in Dawn October 16th, 2016