LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing of a suo moto case over incidents of child kidnapping reported in Lahore as well as the rest of Punjab.

The Supreme Court summoned senior police officers and ordered IG Police Punjab Mushtaq Sukhera to present a report on the incidents on July 28.

Meanwhile, IG Police asked for child kidnapping records from the past five years from all over the province. The first phase will involve compilation of records from the past five years, whereas the second phase will encompass case files from the past 10 years.

A wave of anxiety has gripped the region following kidnapping of 600 children from Lahore and other parts of Punjab within a short span of time. However, Punjab police has said that most of these children fled from domestic violence.

Incidents of missing children from Punjab have been on the rise recently. More than a dozen children went missing from Badami baagh (garden) in the past few months alone. Last week, a child was discovered dead in the same area, who had reportedly been murdered after being tortured.

The police, meanwhile, maintains that not all of the missing children were kidnapped. Additional Inspector General Police Shahzada Sultan, citing statistics, said that during 2015 kidnapping cases of 1,134 children were registered in Punjab, of whom 1,093 were recovered. This year 681 cases have been registered, whereas 640 children have been recovered already.

CPO Lahore’s claim is not much different from that of the IG. It states that social attitudes and domestic environment are more to blame for the children’s disappearance. Of the 208 missing children, 189 have been found whereas efforts are ongoing for the other 19.

Many of the missing children belong to poor families.

Meanwhile, the opposition has decided to take up the issue in the Punjab assembly. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Sadia Sohail, a member of the assembly, submitted a motion pertaining to the issue in the assembly. The matter demands attention and needs to be brought under discussion at the assembly, she said.

In the past six months, 312 children from Lahore alone and 652 children from all of Punjab have gone missing. According to official as well as unofficial reports, Lahore leads the list for the reported child kidnappings.