A group of 64 children of Southern Punjab who were being used as camel jockeys in United Arab Emirates would be returned home in a couple of days from Lahore where they arrived at the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Friday.
FIA Immigration authorities are looking for their parents with the help of police in Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, and other parts of the same area.
"Parents of these jockey children are afraid of FIA authorities. And they are avoiding receiving their children to escape arrest and now they have changed their statements that their children were kidnapped and smuggled by unknown people," FIA authorities said.
Most of the children were between the age of 7 to 14 years and belonged to southern Punjab i. e. Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahimyar Khan, and DG Khan.
The children were immediately rushed to Child Protection Bureau at Montgomery Road for their rehabilitation and then handing over to their parents and the relatives.
Some of the children were of the view that they were smuggled to UAE by unknown people as they were infant at that time and did not even know anything about their parents and home districts.
The others stated that their parents had sent them to UAE for monetary reason, as they had no other source of earning, and they (children) had been regularly sending money on monthly basis back to their parents.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the children smuggled to UAE belonged to the specific parts of the country where the people were involved in this heinous crime due to illiteracy and unemployment.