LAHORE, June 8: The number of runaway children is on the rise, according to statistics compiled by the Railway Police Help Centres during the last two years. The railway police caught 1,357 children wandering on different railway stations across the country since its inception in June 2003. It also traced 793 children, who were lost while travelling along with their families.

The statistics show that most of the wandering children belong to Lahore, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Rawalpindi, and Karachi. The railway police help centres at Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Multan, Sukkur, Peshawar, and Karachi stations have handed almost all of them over to their families. Those, whose guardians could not be traced, have been shifted to Edhi centres and Darul Amans.

Poverty, marriage against will, dowry and other domestic problems are cited as reasons compelling the girls to leave their homes.

An analysis of the figures reveals that most of the boys left their homes because of negligence of parents and their torture. They do not want to continue studies for fear of corporal punishment by teachers. Several boys manage to escape from bonded labour dens.

The runaway girls easily fall a victim to prostitution and boys to beggary and forced labour.

A 17-year-old girl, who belongs to Bahawalpur, told the railway police that she left her home because her father wanted to marry her off to his 55-year-old friend. She said she would not return home under the circumstances. The police handed her over to an Edhi centre.

Eight-year-old Junaid Husain reached the Faisalabad railway station to board a train in a bid to run away from his family which, he said, forced him to work.

A railway police help centre constable caught him while he was trying to board a Lahore-bound train. The boy told him that he did not want to go back, as his father would again force him to assist him at his grocery shop. However, the police persuaded him to go back.

SSP (Railways) Munir Ahmad Chishti told Dawn that the runaway children usually considered travelling by train safer than other modes of transport. They got off at any station when a ticket checker approached them, he added.

He said runaway/lost children were handed over to their guardians after confirming their identities. The police advised the guardians to change their attitude towards their children to avoid such incidents in future. The railway police has reportedly detected half of the runaway children.