11/08/2025
Dear HOPE Friends,
There is a well-known saying that "No good deed goes unpunished." Indeed this adage has hit close to home for the HOPE Pakistan Team.
In a recent course of action that has left our team stunned, the Federal Investigative Agency of Pakistan (pursuant to directives from the US Embassy) has levied serious charges against Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla, founder of HOPE Pakistan. These charges allege that a number of child adoptions that were facilitated by HOPE between 2006 and 2015 entail human trafficking. Since all legal protocols and procedures (including filing the requisite paperwork and ensuring that the children were placed in trustworthy families who would raise them with the utmost care and love) were followed at the time and the visas for all children given for adoption were approved and issued by the US Embassy itself, this certainly comes as a shock to the entire HOPE Team. As such, we felt it was appropriate to issue a statement clarifying matters as media reports can often be sensationalized and put forth as fact without due process being given to the innocently accused.
HOPE Pakistan was started 28 years ago by Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla while she was studying to become a pediatrician at Dow Medical School in Karachi, Pakistan. Due to Dr. Mubina's medical background, HOPE's initial objective was to provide the poor with better access to medical centers and hospitals. In a country grappling with basic issues such as lack of access to clean drinking water, poor maternal and infant health, malnutrition in children, prevention and treatment of diseases such as malaria, cholera, and tuberculosis, it already seemed as though HOPE had enough of a challenge on its hands. But soon Dr. Mubina realized that the cornerstone of a productive and forward-thinking community relies on both a healthy body and healthy mind. She honed her vision to an integrative approach that was twofold: health and education. Today, HOPE has evolved to an organization that prioritizes the health and education opportunities of underserved women and children in Pakistan
*In total, as an organization, we provide free/nominal cost services and have developed an all encompassing poverty alleviation plan which reaches 1,000,000 beneficiaries per year, 70% of whom are women and children:*
*Healthcare:*
● 4 hospitals: 900,000 patients/year total
● 10 Maternal & Child Centers: 120,000 patients/year total
● 1 Basic Health Unit: 40,000 patients/year total
● 2 Mobile Health Units: 70,000 patients/year total
● 70% of our patients are women and children
*Education:*
● 3 formal schools: 2,000 students/year total
● 200 informal or home schools: 11,000 students/year total
● 70% of our students are girls
*Vocational Training:*
● 6 vocational centers which have served over 7,000 young adults to date
● 80% of our students are young women
*Clean Water:*
● 165 hand pumps installed in rural and remote areas serving 125,000 people
● 25 million liters of Procter & Gamble PuR Water sachets distributed to date
*Disaster Relief:*
● 500,000 victims aided total in natural disasters such as the 2022 Pakistan FloodCrisis and the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake
● Over 35 million liters of PuR water sachets distributed to date
*Our work has spanned nearly three decades thus far and impacts all regions of Pakistan. Child adoptions have never been a primary focus of what we do. From time to time however, being a social welfare organization dedicated to poverty alleviation within a third world country, abandoned children have been placed at the doorsteps of our facilities or in the nearby premises of the downtrodden neighborhoods in which we have a presence. Rather than leave those vulnerable infants to the forces of nature or predatory individuals, we took it upon ourselves to place them into homes in which they would be loved and cherished. Of course, the placement of these children into adoptive families was only done after filing the required legal paperwork and adhering to due processes that were in place at the time.*
*HOPE did not stand to gain financially from facilitating the adoptions of these children at the time, nor was this ever the case in the years following. Dr. Mubina did not receive any benefit at any time for undertaking such a weighty responsibility. Rather, we assumed a tremendous risk by assuming temporary custody of these children in order to remove them from potential harm since they were abandoned and no one had stepped forth to claim them. This risk was undertaken with the best interest of each child in mind and fear of neglect/abuse or even death of these children if we chose to do nothing and looked the other way. In the years since, every child (23 total) has since gone on to live a fulfilling childhood within their respective loving families. Local Pakistani courts approved the adoptions at the time without raising any questions and similarly, the US Embassy readily issued visas for the children who were placed in families residing in the US. No objections were raised regarding any of the adoption cases by any governing body at the time.*
As a team, we stand in solidarity with Dr. Mubina in light of the heinous charges that have been brought against her. Over the course of 28 years, through HOPE, she has single-handedly used determination and vision to bring life and hope into inner city neighborhoods, remote, mountaintop regions, and rural village areas that have historically been neglected. She and HOPE have been staunch champions of downtrodden women, children, orphans, and widows. Countless men, women, and children have broken free from the tenacious grip of poverty through her sacrifices and perseverance. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the allegations are unsubstantiated and lack merit, we must follow due processes in order to reinstate her innocence as all human trafficking charges are heavily scrutinized.
With God's will, HOPE's work will continue and Dr. Mubina's innocence will be proven without further delay. We thank our loyal supporters who we trust will not rush to judgements after reading sensationalized media reports, but will use their critical thinking skills to carefully assess the history of the organization and the facts at hand. During this time, we request your prayers and support that justice will prevail.
Warm regards,
The HOPE Pakistan Team
