KARACHI, April 11: The row of baby's cradles lined up on the pavement outside a welfare organization's office are empty. The sign above reads: "Do not murder, lay them here." It is a plea against infanticide.

"We've installed the cradles to motivate parents who might choose to kill their babies because they're born out of wedlock or for other reasons," explains Anwar Kazmi of the Edhi Foundation.

In February alone, 20 babies were found dead and discarded among garbage dumps and sewerage drains in Karachi. They ranged in age from one day to six months. Edhi workers buried the nameless children.

Now they are trying to give an alternative to parents who cave in to societal and religious condemnation of illegitimate births. Compulsive socio-religious pressure is so frightening that it turns a mother, frequently an underprivileged woman who has been raped, into a marauder, forcing her to brutally kill the infant and leave no trace of her identity, Kazmi said.

Two of the 20 babies whose bodies were found in February had been strangled. There are tales of babies left alive but abandoned. The cradles have won the attention of some mothers.

On average 26 babies each month are found in the 32 cradles outside Edhi's Karachi office. They are taken in and cared for by a cell of the foundation, which has been looking after abandoned babies for 40 years.

The children are later passed into the care of foster parents. "We have settled over 15,000 children by giving them to those married couples whose chances of bearing a child are weak. We ensure that they can care for the child," Kazmi said.

"Our main concern is the children's wellbeing before we entrust them to the couples." While the children are cared for, there are few steps to stop the practice of infanticide due to social pressure.

Abortion is prohibited in Pakistan, except when the mother's life is at risk from her pregnancy. Senior gynaecologist Sher Shah believes legalisation of abortion would help stem the killing of newborns, and save mothers from potentially fatal back-street terminations.

"Prohibition of induced abortion is one of the major causes (of the problem) as well as the mortality rate among the pregnant mothers in Pakistan," Shah said. Some religious scholars deem the cradles to be as haram as abortion, perceiving them as indirectly encouraging adultery.

"It is na-jaiz (illegitimate)," said Asfandyar Khan, scholar and head of an Islamic organization. "Such births and deaths can only be prevented by imposing Sharia in letter and spirit, which guarantees all kind of social, economic and personal justice." - AFP