LAHORE, Nov 23: Six children aged between one and 13 years on Sunday fled to Edhi Homes in Township “to escape the clutches of their uncle”, Edhi officials quoted the children as saying.

Shahzad, 13, ten-year-old Iram, nine-year-old Kiran, eight-year-old Aqsa, six-year-old Hasnain and their infant sibling, residents of Malipura, were being subjected to starvation and other forms of abuse by their paternal uncle Abdullah, head of the Township Edhi Homes Salma Bibi told Dawn.

The children fell into his care after the arrest of their own parents, Mansha and Nasreen Bibi, on kidnap for ransom charges. The couple is currently facing judicial remand at Kot Lakhpat jail. The children said their parents were innocent and claimed that their uncle Abdullah had got them implicated in the case.

Salma Bibi said the children fled to a park near their home where a man called the

Edhi Homes in Defence Housing Authority on their behalf.

The man eventually dropped them at the Defence Edhi Centre and disappeared. They were later shifted to the Edhi Homes in Township.“We don’t want to live with our uncle”, Salma quoted Shahzad as having said.