KARACHI: The Edhi Foundation recovered over 300 bodies of newly born babies, mostly of girls, in different parts of the city during 2019 which were later on buried properly in graveyards, according to charity officials.

The charity organisation’s spokesperson, Saad Edhi, said that as many as 375 bodies of newborn babies were found at open places or roadsides in the metropolis in 2019.

The spokesperson for the charity recalled that as compared to 2018, the figure of dead bodies of babies had doubled in 2019.

Mr Edhi said he believed that most of the bodies were of girls.

Faisal Edhi, head of the Edhi Foundation, told Dawn that there were several reasons behind this tragic situation.

The number surpasses the figure of the preceding year

He said that the main plausible reason was that some people did not want girl children. He claimed that when during ultrasound it transpired that the mother had conceived a girl, the family got abortion as they preferred a male child due to societal pressure.

He regretted that in our society, mothers faced family pressures in case of conceiving a girl child, particularly when a woman already had several girls. Therefore, such mothers got abortion after four to five months of pregnancy. He said in certain cases, the families dropped the bodies of newly born girls at Edhi centres located in different parts of the city as it was difficult for them to get a death certificate from hospitals. Besides, relatives also feared arrest by law enforcers as abortion is illegal in the country.

Faisal Edhi said that abortion was allowed only on “solid medical grounds” such as saving the life of the mother.

Saad Edhi said that another possible reason might be children who were born out of wedlock.

According to the year-wise data provided by the Edhi Foundation, 20 bodies of newly born babies were found in the month of January, 31 in February, 24 in March, 35 in April, 17 in May, 29 in June, 35 in July, 40 in August, 18 in September, 22 in October, 22 in November, and 22 in December 2019.

The charity spokesperson said that 313 bodies of newly born babies were brought to the Moosa Lane area of Lyari while 62 other bodies were brought to the Edhi morgue in the Sohrab Goth area.

All the bodies were buried properly in Edhi graveyards.

Teenager shot dead in Surjani

A teenage boy was shot dead in Surjani Town on Saturday evening, police and rescue officials said.

They added that the person was gunned down in Taiser Town. The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to fulfil legal formalities.

The victim was identified as Izharul Haq, 19.

The police said that he had sustained a single bullet in the head. The incident occurred in the Arab Goth near Khuda Ki Basti.

Area SHO Iftikhar Ahmed Qureshi said the police were trying to find out the motive for the murder.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2020