KARACHI: Muhammad Anwar Alvi was beside himself with joy when he was reunited with his sister, Shumaila, after 15 long years. Shumaila had ventured out of her home in the eastern city of Attock in 2010 to buy a snack from a nearby shop. She was found by her family in the southern port city of Karachi this week, hundreds of miles away, now aged 40.
Shumaila, suffering from mental health challenges, was found by her family last week after relatives in Attock spotted a video posted online by the Punjab Safe City project on Facebook. The project is a government initiative featuring a city-wide digital security and surveillance system. It aims to strengthen law enforcement via artificial intelligence-driven facial and vehicle number plate recognition.
The video featured an interview of Shumaila, who had been found by railway police in Karachi 15 years earlier and handed over to the care of the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity organization, in the city.
“Today our sister has been born again,” Alvi said. “I don’t have words for the Edhi Center to express my gratitude.”
The foundation operates “panahgahs” or shelter homes that provide food, accommodation, medical care and protection to thousands of abandoned children, orphans, homeless people, women and victims of domestic abuse.
