RAWALPINDI: A six-year-old girl went missing and was suspected to have been swept away in an open drain/nullah near Committee Chowk, Lunda Bazar, in the early hours of Thursday.

However, on the complaint of the girl’s father, the City police later registered a kidnapping case and launched an investigation.

According to initial reports, the girl’s father was putting children in his car to return home after visiting his relatives when the girl, Hareen Ali, vanished at about 2:30am.

According to the girl’s father Umair Ali, the nullah was not visible due to accumulated rainwater and they thought that there was a road.

Police register kidnapping case on complaint of girl’s father

“Hareen was standing near the car. When I turned towards the vehicle’s door to unlock it, I found my daughter missing,” the girl’s father told reporters.

Shortly after the incident was reported, Rescue 1122 teams reached the spot and started a search operation while the police were also investigating the incident.

According to a Rescue 1122 spokesman, it is feared that the girl might have fallen into a drain; however, the circumstances are still unclear. Rescue 1122’s first day of search and rescue operations continued till the evening, the spokesman added.

During the operation, a complete search was conducted in an area of approximately four kilometres from Sangam to Moti Mahal Bridge in the drainage canal, he said. Water rescue teams continued the line search and along the banks of the drain.

He said the first day’s search and rescue operation was temporarily called off due to sunset. Water rescue teams will resume search operations early on Friday morning with all available resources, the spokesman said.

After the search operation was suspended, the family members, relatives and local people gathered at the crossing of Lunda Bazaar, staged a sit-in protest and demanded the authorities to trace the missing girl.

“I want my daughter, either she has been taken away by someone or drowned in nullah,” Umair Ali told Dawn.

He said since his daughter went missing the search teams were unable to trace her.

It may be mentioned here that shops have been built on the nullah which was about six to eight feet wide and almost filled with garbage. Some parts of the nullah are left open while some are covered with iron grills. Overflowing of nullahs in the city is common as cleaning is hardly done by the concerned departments.

As the incident was reported, Rescue 1122, local police and Wasa teams reached the spot and started pulling out garbage. A large number of people gathered at the scene, supported the family of the missing girl and condemned the civic authorities for their negligence.

Many incidents of drowning of children have taken place in recent times but no measures have been taken to avert such incidents.

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2026