Missing Pakistani girls found in Lahore, ran away to go to South Korea to meet BTS
A diary with train timetables and their plan to run away was found at their home, which led to them being found.
In a bizarre incident, two teenage Pakistani girls aged 13 and 14 – who had been missing for a week from their homes in Karachi have been found in Lahore planning to run away to South Korea to meet their idols – the K-pop group BTS. The girls went missing last Saturday and were found by the police on Tuesday about 1200 kms away from their home.
Inspired by the Korean boy band, they decided to run away to South Korea to meet them. They even maintained a diary containing train schedules and their elaborate plan which was found by the police while searching the girls’ homes which ultimately led to them being found.
“From the diary, we saw mentions of train timetables and that they had been planning to run away with another friend of theirs … who we then interviewed,” senior police superintendent Abraiz Ali Abassi said. “We started tracking them aggressively and found out they were in the custody of the police in the city of Lahore where they had traveled by train.”
Arrangements for the girls to be taken back home to Karachi have been made in coordination with the police in Lahore.
Meanwhile, Abbasi also appealed to parents to monitor their children’s screen time, so they’re more aware of what their children are viewing online.
“It isn’t a surprise that two teenagers took this risk because ‘stans’ are capable of doing this for their idols,” said culture journalist Rabia Mehmood, using a colloquial term for loyal fans of BTS. She went on to add that there should be “safer and organized fangirling spaces so that younger fans could engage openly and freely with each other about their favorites instead of taking such risks.”
K-pop has a huge following all over the world, including Pakistan, with fans spanning age groups and genders. BTS posters and albums are sold all over the South Asian country, while Korean dramas are gaining popularity as well.
It is worth noting that this is not an isolated incident of manic BTS fans engaging in over-the-top behaviors. The band has over time inspired quite a toxic and obsessive community of ‘stans’ that can be found on online spaces such as Instagram as well, and are ready to jump to any lengths to catch as much as a glimpse of their idols.
In July of 2022, pictures of the White House resembling a pop-concert went viral wherein the BTS were invited for a press meet. The pictures showed their fans braving sweltering heat, pressing their faces to the fence, and clutchinhg cameraphones in the hope of seeing their idols.
