ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): A man who was abducted at the age of just two finally reunited with his family after 32 years.
A local TV outlet shared his tragic story in a live show to make every viewer weeping.
It was the efforts of a social worker, Waliullah Maroof, that made the reunion possible who used to regularly upload videos of such missing persons cases on social media to help reconnect families.
Asif (original name Muhammad Siddiq) had been abducted in 1992, however, his parents never gave up his search.
They originally named him Muhammad Siddiq, but his kidnappers changed his name to Muhammad Asif. It was the Bari Imam area in Islamabad where from he was abducted, and his parents said that not a single day passed when they didn’t remember him.
Recalling the harrowing details, Asif revealed that he was kidnapped by a woman. She had three brothers and a mother. He was later taken to a village near Sargodha called Jhanoria.
Another abducted boy
The woman had another abducted boy, whom Asif described as like an elder brother and he was the first to tell him that they had been abducted.
Eventually, villagers in Jhanoria began to suspect something. According to Asif, people suspected they were abducted. That’s when the family left the village, Asif told the programme host.
“We didn’t even know we were kidnapped. But we felt unloved and often heard from others that we were abducted. At the age of 9-10, I ran away from the home and ended up in the care of a kind lawyer who raised me and sent to school.”
Uninterested in studies, Asif became an electrician, got married in 2017, and bought a home with his own savings.
His journey toward family reunion began when, at a goldsmith’s shop, he met someone and shared his wish to find his parents. That person connected him to social worker Waliullah Maroof.
“Maroof asked me for details and eventually made the connection with my real parents,” Asif said.
The reunion not only brought closure to a 32-year search but also offered hope to many others still searching their loved ones.
