More than 500 cases of missing girls are currently pending in Pakistan's Punjab province, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Abdul Karim disclosed before the Lahore High Court on 9 October 2026, according to local media reports. The admission came as the court heard a petition from a Faisalabad resident demanding the recovery of her daughter.

What Unfolded in Court

Chief Justice Aalia Neelum was presiding over a petition filed by Sadia Hussain, a resident of Faisalabad, who sought the court's intervention to trace her missing daughter, as reported by Pakistani daily Dawn. When Justice Neelum asked the IGP for the province-wide figure on missing girls, Karim confirmed that over 500 such cases remained unresolved in Punjab alone.

The Chief Justice further pressed the IGP on whether any structured mechanism existed to handle cases involving children and women. Karim responded that special committees had been established to deal with such matters — an answer that visibly failed to satisfy the bench.

Court Pulls Up Police Over Negligence

Justice Neelum expressed sharp displeasure over what she described as a pattern of police inaction, observing that law enforcement appeared to act only when courts intervened directly. She cited one particularly troubling instance in which a girl who had been missing for two years was located only after the court took notice of the case.

The judge ordered the IGP to submit a detailed report outlining the concrete steps being taken by police to trace the missing girls. Notably, critics and rights advocates have long argued that the scale of such cases in Punjab reflects a deeper institutional failure to prioritise the safety of women and children.

Alarming Sexual Violence Data from Lahore

The court hearing coincided with the release of troubling figures by Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), a leading minority rights organisation. According to its data, Lahore recorded 498 rape cases and 36 gang-rape cases in the first eight months of 2026 alone — translating to an average of more than four reported sexual offences every day.

When sodomy cases are factored in, the total number of reported sexual-offence cases in Lahore over eight months reaches 1,108, according to VOPM. The organisation warned: 'No neighbourhood is spared. No community is immune... The violence is everywhere, and fear is everywhere with it.'

The Underreporting Problem

VOPM stressed that the published statistics likely capture only a fraction of the actual scale of violence. The organisation cited rights groups that have repeatedly flagged how stigma, family pressure, distrust of police, and the fear of social ostracism deter countless victims from reporting offences.

'Many never report. Many are told to stay quiet. Many are blamed,' VOPM stated, adding that an increase in registered cases could simultaneously indicate both more crimes being committed and greater victim courage in coming forward — while still representing the tip of the iceberg.

This comes amid longstanding concerns about the capacity and accountability of Pakistan's provincial police forces in tackling gender-based violence. The Lahore High Court's intervention signals growing judicial impatience with the pace of police response, and more hearings on the matter are expected in the weeks ahead.