News Desk
A five‑year police record from Lahore has revealed a disturbing pattern: 824 women abducted between 2021 and 2025 remain untraced, raising serious questions over policing, investigations and the state’s ability to protect vulnerable citizens.
According to official data, the highest number of unresolved abductions was reported from the Cantonment Division, where 282 women are still missing. The Saddar Division recorded 152 untraced cases, followed by 124 in the City Division, 110 in Model Town, and 100 in Iqbal Town. Another 56 women abducted from the Civil Lines Division have also not been recovered.
Despite FIRs being registered in all cases, police have failed to locate the victims or establish clear leads, effectively leaving families without answers and exposing glaring investigative lapses.
Field officers admit the numbers reflect a persistent enforcement failure. Many cases, they say, involve organised networks, cross‑district movement, and weak follow‑up — but critics argue that the scale of disappearances points to a deeper structural problem within Punjab’s policing system.
The data comes at a time when Lahore has witnessed repeated complaints about delayed investigations, poor coordination between divisions, and inadequate tracking of missing‑person cases. Women’s rights groups say the figures highlight a “silent emergency” in Pakistan’s second‑largest city, where abductions often slip through bureaucratic cracks.
Police officials maintain that efforts are underway to trace the missing women, but the five‑year record paints a stark picture: hundreds of families still waiting, hundreds of cases still open, and no meaningful breakthroughs in sight.
