I am in search of my son, who went missing three months ago from the neighbourhood. We are told that he is in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban,” said Gul Afzal, a resident of Ghareebabad hamlet in Mardan, North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

Unfortunately Gul Afzal is not the only father searching for his lost son. There are many families who are desperate to get news of missing brothers and sons in the autonomous North and South Waziristan, and Tank, Dir, Buner and Mardan districts in NWFP.

Intelligence officials told IPS that one year ago, some militants took a 15-year-old boy from Shabqadar village to South Waziristan Agency where he was given training to be a suicide bomber. His parents who were searching for their missing son received a message one day from a militant group that they should consider themselves lucky that their son had blown himself up in an attack killing five foreign troops in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.

Chief of city police in Peshawar Abdul Majeed Marwat says the militants kidnap teenagers because they are easy to brainwash. The boys are told that they would get a ticket to paradise if they killed western soldiers, he said. Many children have been picked up from schools and off the streets in Dara Adamkhel’s Bazi Khel, Shiraki, Bosti Khel and Zore Kali localities.

On Mar. 27 at a public rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, in reply to a woman who asked for his help to locate her missing son, said that those abducted are in the custody of militant groups and not the government.

In fact, the suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, last month, is also being linked to his continuous warnings to the government to locate persons reported missing. Some 200 such families have recently started a campaign for the recovery of their kidnapped relatives.

Three month ago, two children were picked up from a school in the Dara Adamkhel. They returned home after spending more than 20 days in the so-called “unknown place”. Locals believe Dara Adamkhel has become a hub of militant activities, particularly its villages perched on rugged mountains. The government has closed down schools in Tank. According to sources, militant groups are targeting schools for new recruits. Anxious parents and community members fear that their children may be lured away for training in subversive activities.

“Last year, three children were kidnapped by some militants from Dir. Later, they were traced in South Waziristan at a training camp,” an intelligence official said. Their parents approached the militants with requests to release the boys. But the militants turned them down saying they had spent huge amounts on their training. Each family had to pay Rs 50,000 to secure their release.

These parents were among the fortunate few. Others who have searched various border areas have been turned away. “I have searched North, South Waziristan and Tank for my child. I have also sought help from militants, but they have refused to share my worries. They asked me to leave the area,” said a distraught father.

The general insecurity has forced a teacher in North Waziristan to shift his family to Peshawar. “I took the decision for the safety of my three daughters and son,” he said. — IPS