ISLAMABAD: The police on Tuesday said they have recovered a teenage minor who was reported missing on Sunday, but have reportedly refused to confirm her recovery with her family.

Police said at around 5:50pm that a 13-year-old child who disappeared from G-8/1 has been recovered, and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Waqaruddin Syed would hold a press conference at 7pm in this regard. The press conference was later cancelled.

The Islamabad police’s Twitter account also posted an announcement to this effect, saying that the girl was safely recovered from Swat and that this was not a case of forceful abduction.

Sources say this does not appear to be forced abduction case

The girl’s uncle said around 6pm Tuesday evening that news of the child’s recovery had aired on some television channels while other sources had claimed that she was kidnapped and recovered from Swat.

He said the local police had not confirmed this news with the family, who were trying to reach out to the authorities.

He told Dawn that some members of the family were engaged with the police for the girl’s recovery, with some of them even present at the police station, but no one was aware whether she has been found.

Contacted again around 7pm, he said the child’s father was present at the police station but no one has officially confirmed that his daughter has been recovered. He said he learned from his own sources that she has been recovered and is with the police.

Sources in the police told Dawn that the child was recovered from Swat along with a boy her age who is also in police custody.

They said the investigation had revealed that the two children left together, that the girl left a note for her family, and that they stayed at a hotel in Rawalpindi from where they went to Murree aboard a passenger vehicle.

They then went to Swat, sources said, using public transport and a rented car.

The Islamabad police had also approached their counterparts in Rawalpindi and investigate the children’s stay there, they said.

A senior police officer told Dawn that the girl has been recovered, but this information has not yet been shared with her family. He said the girl will be produced before the media at a press conference to be conducted by the senior-most officers.

He said Tuesday’s press conference was cancelled as the police wanted to interrogate the children before disclosing the girl’s recovery. He said it would likely be held today (Wednesday).

Inspector General of Police Mohammad Amir Zulfikar Khan and DIG Waqaruddin Syed could not be reached for comment.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2019