Karachi: Police rescue girls traded by seminary for non-payment of debt

Karachi: Police in Pakistan’s biggest city have recovered 33 minor girl students of a religious seminary who had apparently been handed over to a family by a teacher and a supervisor of the madrassa over non-payment of a debt.

Acting on a complaint filed by the local residents, police raided a house in Liaquatabad C-1 area here and found 26 young girls inside, said senior police official Nadeem Shah yesterday.

Later, seven other girls were recovered from the same area, raising the tally to 33. “Apparently the family who had kept these girls aged between seven to 14 had to pay loans to the seminary. And when they couldn’t do that the seminary head and a lady supervisor decided they should take care of the girls until the loan was cleared,” Shah said.

“The supervisor said,” he further added, “the girls were well looked after and hailed from Bajaur agency.” A woman from the family said seminary officials came to their house and handed over the girls for safekeeping on the pretext that it would add pressure to repay the loan.

Shah said the seminary owner admitted she regularly brought girls from Bajaur to educate and train them. They then returned to their homes so that they could lead a better life and educate others.

“We are investigating the matter because we don’t know under what law the seminary handed over these girls to the family over a loan payment matter although the girls from Bajaur were the responsibility of the seminary,” he said. A local resident Taufeeq said the family owns two houses in the same lane and had kept them there.

PTI