KARACHI: Pakistani authorities have arrested the head of a Karachi-based non-governmental organization on charges of child smuggling and illegal overseas adoptions after a tip-off from the US Consulate, prompting rights activists to say the case exposed flaws in the country’s child protection and law enforcement systems.
Dr. Mubina Cassum Agboatwala, chairperson of Health-Oriented Preventive Education (HOPE), was taken into custody on Monday by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) after a court dismissed her pre-arrest bail application.
The FIA’s Anti-Human Trafficking Circle (AHTC) in Karachi registered a case against Agboatwala in July 2025 after receiving a complaint from the US Consulate in September 2023. The consulate had alerted authorities that HOPE had facilitated illegal adoptions of minors, mostly to families in the United States.
“While Pakistan has taken legislative steps with the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018, and the Prevention of Smuggling of Migrants Act, 2018, the persistence of child trafficking reveals critical gaps in implementation and protection systems,” Pirbhu Satyani, a Sindh member of the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, told Arab News.
