LARKANA, Jan 4: Of the 622 children who went missing in Larkana District during 2001, 611 were reunited with their families while only 11 remain missing.

A 60-year-old man, Anwer Ali Khokhar, who runs the Khidmat-i-Masoom Welfare Trust in Larkana, told this correspondent on Friday that out of the 622 missing children, 420 were boys while 202 were girls.

He elucidated that 47 children went missing in January, 75 in February, 65 in March, 35 in April, 44 in May, 30 in June, 41 in July, 44 in August, 58 in September, 55 in October, 65 in November, and 63 in December.

He claimed that he had not only traced most of these children but had safely handed them over to their parents.

He claimed that he had embarked upon his mission in 1990 and ever since he had delivered 3,730 missing children to their parents.

Mr Khokhar believed that the 11 children who still remained missing might have been kidnapped. He ascertained their names as M. Rafique Hulio, Irshad Junejo, Rahim Bakhsh Chandio, Abdul Malik Mughiri, Ghulam Shabir Bohiyo, Jam Halar Junejo, Barkat Ali Chandio, Yasin Shaikh, Abdul Karim, Mujeebur Rehman Chandio, and Ghulam Rasool Chandio.

He said during 2001 eight children had died, some by falling in open gutters and some by drowning in the Rice Canal.

He said that the parents of missing children had located 36 children on their own.

Mr Khokhar believed that careless parents were responsible for the children who went missing.

He accused police, politicians, landlords, and people in the administration for kidnapping children or conniving with the kidnappers.

He said that the culprits escaped punishment due to having no witness who could speak against them and also due to being influential.

He appealed to philanthropists to extend help for an under-construction house meant for the old and the needy.

MAN KILLED: A man, Bakhsh Ali Jatoi, was killed in Kot Chandiko village, near Dokri, by two men, Wazeer Jatoi and Sajjino Jatoi, on Friday.