The search for the four girls, who went missing in Lahore on Monday, continued for the second day as police officials attempted to trace their journey since they had left their homes the previous night.

The father of two of the girls, identified as Irfan, registered a first information report (FIR) under Section 363 (punishment for kidnapping) of the Pakistan Penal Code on August 2 in Hanjarwal police station.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, on July 30 his two daughters — Anam, 10, Kaniza, 11 — had wished to travel on the Orange Line metro train with two of their friends — Aisha, close to 14 years, and Shamreen, around seven to eight years-old — who were daughters of his neighbour, Mohammad Akram.

The four had ventured out at around 8:30pm "but they never returned and weren't found even though we tried a lot to search them on our own", he said in the FIR. "I have a suspicion that an unknown person abducted them therefore conduct legal proceedings and recover the missing girls," the father was quoted as saying in the FIR.

Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar instructed Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Essa Khan Sukhera to form a special team for the investigation. "All resources should be used for the recovery of the girls," said CCPO Dogar.

Meanwhile, Hanjarwal Station House Officer Qaiser (SHO) Aziz told Dawn.com that no trace of the girls could be found till now. He said a rickshaw driver had dropped the girls off at Lahore's EME Society at midnight on July 30.

"The Lahore police have arrested the rickshaw driver and a neighbour, Omar," he said, adding that the two were arrested on August 2 and interrogated by senior police officials till 3am.

The SHO said that Omar had remained with the girls till 11pm and returned home on his mother's call, leaving the girls in Hanjarwal.