THE disappearance of innocent children is among the gravest humanitarian tragedies confronting Sindh today. Civil society activists of all shades and hues have been raising their united voice to highlight the plight of the grieving families, but not much success has come their way. Take, for instance, the case of Priya Kumari, a young girl from the Hindu minority community. Rallies and sit-ins have multiplied. Social and mainstream media have refused to let the case fade from public memory, but, more than five years later, the girl remains ‘missing’.

The most recent expression of the resolve of civil society was a sit-in at Babarloi Bypass to demand the recovery of more than two dozen missing and abducted children. For 27 days, protesters endured the scorching sun and open skies with a single demand: the safe recovery of these children. That hope suffered a severe blow when police forcibly dispersed the peaceful protest. Women and children were dragged from the camp, journalists had their cameras and phones seized, and many of the organisers were arrested.

Priya was abducted in broad daylight during a Muharram procession despite surveillance cameras and police presence. Multiple joint investigation teams (JITs) have failed to solve her case. The unresolved disappearances of Fazila Sarki and the nine members of the family of Mano Bheel, a vulnerable peasant, painfully expose a pattern in which justice for the poor, despite JITs and superior judiciary suo motu notices, is endlessly delayed. The contrast is impossible to ignore. When the son of a former MPA had disappeared, the state machinery had moved with exemplary speed and efficiency, and recovered him within a day. Why is such urgency and efficiency not observed for the children of the poor?

Qamer Soomro
Shikarpur

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2026