Sindh govt decides to take control of Sarim Burney Trust

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to take control of the Sarim Burney Welfare Trust’s affairs following arrest of the trust’s chief Sarim Burney over allegations of child trafficking, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The social activist is accused of trafficking children from Pakistan to the USA.

As per details, the Sindh government’s Department of Social Welfare has issued directives to this effect.

According to the letter, the Department of Social Welfare will now manage the orphanage affairs previously overseen by Sarim Burney.

Sarim Burney was arrested on June 5 upon his return from the USA following a request from the American Consulate.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered first information report (FIR) against rights activist Sarim Burney for allegedly trafficking newborn babies to United States (US).

In the FIR, the investigation agency booked the rights activist for ‘trafficking’ a newborn baby – identified as Haya – to the US. Haya, who according to FIA was the last girl trafficked to US, was allegedly bought from her parents for Rs1 million.

Sarim Burney trafficked 20 newborns to the US in the past year on pretext of adoption. The FIA claimed that 15 of the trafficked children were girls.

The FIA, in a statement, said that the records of the allegedly trafficked children were provided by the Pakistan embassy. Citing the Trust documents, the agency said Burney’s wife was also among the beneficiaries.