On March 1st 2017 Pakistan became the 96th contracting state to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
This makes it easier for a parent to seek the return of an abducted child to the country of origin, so that the case is considered by a court in the country where the child is habitually resident. This applies whenever agreement has not been reached between parents, as in the recent Scottish case where a child has been returned to Australia because the mother had wrongly retained the child in Scotland.
Although the number of countries abiding by the Convention is still growing, it does not apply in many African and Middle Eastern countries.