Karachi police rescue female minors being held hostage as part of arrangement to settle a loan dispute.

KARACHI — Police recovered 26 female minors during a raid in Karachi at International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25.

Acting on information from neighbors, special police forces conducted the raid at a house in Liaquatabad and rescued the underage girls.

All the girls who only spoke Pashto were brought to Karachi from Bajaur Agency, of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan.

According to police, these girls under the age of 10 were being held hostage in a house in Karachi as part of an arrangement to settle a loan dispute between the house-owner and a school teacher.

The Sindh government has taken them into custody and will hand them over to their respective guardians after conducting investigations.

According to the statement of Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani, provincial minister for social welfare, women development and special education, the government is willing to bear the expenditures of these girls.

It is not yet clear why the girls were brought to Karachi, but one woman told police that girls were being kept at her house to pay off debt.

The house owner had allegedly taken a loan from the school teacher and was forced to look after the girls upon failing to repay the money. According to initial reports, the girls had not been properly fed for the past two days.

Sindh Governor Dr. Ishratul Ebad took notice and called investigation report from police. “It is the government’s responsibility to safely hand over the girls to their parents,” he said, directing police to submit a report.

Tayyab Baloch is an Islamabad-based multimedia journalist. He tweets at @blochjournalist. Read other articles by Tayyab.