Luqman, 10 years old

10-year-old Luqman stole money from his home and ran away. He might have been lured by somebody who won his trust, or blackmailed him. He remained missing for 1 week.

According to Luqman, after leaving home, he ended up at the Ibrahim Hyderi harbor, where a friendly fishermen invited him to spend the night in his boat and then robbed him of the money he had stolen from home.

This story raises many questions and doubts. Ibrahim Hyderi is quite far away from the boy’s home and he cannot explain why he went there. The boy stole 70 thousand rupees, which is a lot of money for a poor family like this. 

We see many cases of runaways, but stealing so much money is unusual and points towards somebody manipulating the child. Spending the night in a stranger’s boat in the harbor is also a red flag.

There could have been some sexual abuse involved. There may have been a cycle of abuse begun much earlier. This is a recent case and our team is still trying to find out more about what happened. 

Luqman does not go to school, he spends much of his time helping at his father’s small shop, along with his siblings. They live in illegal slum settlements in the outskirts of Karachi.