Rescued girls accuse Sindhi landlord of kidnap

ISLAMABAD - The details of the kidnapping saga of girls, who were abducted from Punjab and were allegedly forced into sex business in a remote village of Nawabshah, have shocked many minds raising questions about the vulnerability of the poor segments of society to those who wield authority and power.
This also puts a big question mark on our fragile system that, as it seems, has badly failed in protecting the poor and the underprivileged class.
Background interviews with the family members of some of the victims, police and officials of the Nawabshah district administration lead to the conclusion that UC Nazim Mari Jalbani Rano Khan Jalbani was the main character behind kidnapping of the girls and pushing them to sex business.
When contacted, DPO Nawabshah Rukhsar Khawar not only confirmed this to TheNation, he further informed that most of the abductees were in custody of a Sindhi Baboo in Mari Jalbani, a village in Nawabshah district. DPO, Rukhsar Khawar said Rano engaged a Punjabi couple Rani and Hayat, now in Hyderabad Polices custody, to allure young girls from various parts of Punjab to Rano Khans captivity who is a feudal of Jalabani village in Tehsil Sakrand of Nawabshah. CPO, Rao Iqbal sent a police party to rescue the abductees in the said village, Rukhsar further informed. DPO Nawabshah further informed that eight girls namely Shamim, Rukkaya, Nasim, Bushra, Perveen, Imrana, Shadan Bibi and Misbaha were recovered on Friday.
The abductees were forced to marry with absconders of that area, he told. Another police official DSP Sakrand also elaborated the whole story saying We raided Mari village and recovered eight girls kidnapped from Chaniot, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Mian Chanu.
Salamat Jatt and his wife (Faisalabad), now serving Rano Khan used to bring women and then handed them over to absconders living under supervision of Rano Khan, he explained when contacted by this scribe. Sakrand Police arrested Salamat with his wife and they confessed that they had been bringing women from far-flung areas of Punjab for years, he added.
Another official of Nazim Sakrand Ghulam Ali Shahs office told TheNation that Rani and her husband provided abducted girls to the absconders hiding in far-flung areas of Jalbani village of Nawabshah. DCO Nawabshah, Khurshid Naeem Malik, when contacted said he was monitoring the whole affair of Mari village and brought the matter to the notice of Sindh Home Minister, Zulfikar Mirza.
When this scribe contacted Home Minister Sindh to get his views on the matter, he not be contacted till filing of this story. However, it was informed from his office that they were in complete knowledge of the affair and the minister had already constituted a committee to look into the affairs and redress the families who had suffered mental, physical and emotional trauma.
Meanwhile, RPO Ralwalpind, Aslam Tarin confirmed to TheNation that a high-level meeting would be called in a day or two to chalk out a strategy against the group, which had kidnapped various girls from Punjab.
While talking to this scribe, Mari UC Nazim Rano Khan neither confirmed nor denied the report of kidnapped girls. However, he admitted that he helped the police in recovering the girls being kidnapped from Punjab and they were brought to his village.
On Friday Sakrand Police raided Mari Jalbani and recovered Salma from my neighborhood and presented her before the court on the very next day, he explained. Sindh National Party (SNP) local leader told TheNation that Rano Khan imprisoned many women in an unknown place. However, Rano Khan refuted the allegations leveled against him by SNP leader justifying that the said leader had personal grudge against him.
Talking to this reporter Fazl Mushtaq from Rawalpindi, a brother of kidnapped girl Nadia Mushtaq appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice against those who were engaged in the heinous business of human trafficking for years.
The mystery unfolded when Amina w/o Mazhar Jatoi, who was kidnapped by this group and later handed over to UC Nazim Mari, lodged an FIR at Airport Police Station, saying dozens of women were in custody of the said Nazim.
On Saturday Amina, along with husband called at RPO Rawalpindi and told this scribe that Rani from Chaniot district kidnapped her.
She appealed to the Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif to take action against the notorious group.