SIX-YEAR-OLD Aisha loves the orange blouse and jeans given to her by the kind woman who rescued her from the chaos of the Kashmir earthquake. She snuggles up to her, trying to forget the devastation of her village home and the deaths of her parents 15 days ago.

What Aisha does not know is that the woman, Kausar, is a prostitute who has bought her from relatives for 50,000 rupees (£500) and plans to put her to work in the sex trade as soon as she reaches puberty.

Aisha is not alone. According to welfare agencies, many of the hundreds of girls and boys orphaned by the earthquake are being targeted by gangs intent on turning them into prostitutes or street beggars.

Other children are being sold for adoption by their parents in acts of desperation prompted by the destruction of homes and livelihoods.

The Pakistani government is so alarmed by the threat to vulnerable children that it has placed armed guards at all hospitals and ordered that no child is released to anyone until proof of kinship has been verified.

A complete ban on adoption was announced after hospitals and emergency shelters were besieged by people offering to take Kashmiri orphans. Staff at the PIMS hospital in Islamabad say a number of people posing as relatives were caught trying to abduct children.

But according to Manan Rana, a child protection officer working for Unicef, the United Nations children’s fund, in Muzaffarabad, near the epicentre of the earthquake, local government in Kashmir has collapsed and officials are unable to provide protection.

No official appears to have noticed when Aisha disappeared. After her home in a village called Arja was wrecked, she was taken to her grandmother’s house in the nearby city of Bagh. Kausar, her new “carer”, who claims the little girl is a distant relative, heard about her plight from family members.

“Her grandmother was too old to look after the girl. I went to Bagh on October 12 and I got her very cheap. A pimp from Lahore might have paid 100,000 rupees,” she said.

“I will provide a good education for her. I would not like her to be a cheap, third-class prostitute. I do care about the girl. I will take good care of her, and then reap the benefit. I’m providing for her protection and I don’t care what Allah thinks.”

Kausar said she was earning £200 a month from prostitution, but could earn thousands more from Aisha. She will sell the girl’s virginity to the highest bidder when she reaches puberty and expects to get up to £2,000 for that alone. “She could start work as soon as she has her first period,” Kausar said.

If Aisha refuses to work as a prostitute, she will be sold to a pimp, Kausar said. She may sell Aisha sooner if she is offered £1,000, but she would not pass her on to whites or non-Muslims, she said, and she would not consider any intervention by this newspaper.

By contrast the family of Summaya, 7, managed to escape the destruction of their house in Muzaffarabad, but her parents now plan to sell her for adoption so that they can buy a new one.

Her mother, Rafia, 38, said they were hoping a good family would pay £2,500 for her and would allow them to visit her.

“My husband is a daily wage labourer and he’s been selling blood for 400 rupees (£4) a pint,” said Rafia. “If our problems are resolved, we will not sell the girl. I love her. I know another family will never be able to give the love a real mother can, but we have to compromise.”

Mohammad Hassan Mangi, director of Pakistan’s National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, said the government had set aside funds to make sure every family affected could rebuild their home. He asked to be put in contact with Summaya’s family.

“The government is giving $10,000 (about £5,650) compensation for each person killed in the quake. If this woman is affected, she will definitely get a home,” he said.

For Aisha, however, there is little anyone can do. After being interviewed, Kausar vanished into Islamabad’s vice world, taking Aisha’s future with her. o The first of three Chinook helicopters sent by Britain to help ferry supplies to remote areas of the earthquake zone left RAF Odiham in Hampshire yesterday. The two other aircraft are due to to be airlifted out today aboard C-17 transport planes.

The rising death toll

Confirmed deaths: 51,139

Injured: 70,000

Aid needed: £2.82 billion

Aid pledged: £350 million

How you can help: To make a donation through the Disasters Emergency Committee call the 24-hour hotline on 0870 606 0900, or donate online at www.dec.org.uk.

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