LAHORE:The Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) reunited a hearing- and speech-impaired man with his family after tracing his identity through facial recognition technology, resolving a missing-person case from 2016.
According to a PSCA spokesperson on Wednesday, Abdul Qadeer was 13 when he disappeared from the Korangi area of Karachi in 2016. Unable to hear or speak, he could not provide his home address.
In 2019, a local family in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa found him, took care of him, and later contacted the Safe City’s “Mera Pyara” team to trace his relatives.
The team entered Abdul Qadeer’s photographs and details into the Mera Pyara system. The facial recognition system generated an alert after matching his image with an old missing-person record from Korangi, identifying him as the son of Abdul Kabir.
The spokesperson said Abdul Qadeer’s father had also contacted the Mera Pyara team in search of his missing son.
To confirm his identity, the Safe City team arranged a video call between Abdul Qadeer and his family. He recognized his relatives during the call, restoring contact after 10 years.
The spokesperson stated that the Mera Pyara initiative works to reunite missing children, elderly people, and persons with disabilities with their families.
Citizens can report missing or unclaimed persons by calling emergency helpline 15 and pressing 3, the spokesperson added.