ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Sundaycleared the mystery surrounding the kidnapping of Afghan ambassador’sdaughter and said it “was not an abduction” at all.
“This is an international conspiracy. An agenda of RAW,” he told a newschannel on Sunday evening. He was referring to the Indian intelligenceagency.
Reports of “abduction” and “torture” of Afghan ambassador’s daughtersurfaced on Saturday. The Afghan Foreign Ministry said the girl was”abducted for several hours” on Friday.
The Pakistani Foreign Office issued a statement, saying that a thoroughprobe has been launched and law enforcement agencies “are trying to traceand apprehend the culprits to be brought to justice”.
In the meanwhile, the security for the ambassador and his family was”beefed up”, according to the statement.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had instructed the interior minister to get tothe bottom of the matter within 48 hours.
On Sunday evening, the minister shared an update into the probe, sayingthat Afghan ambassador’s daughter used the services of two taxis, and thatthe driver of one has been contacted. The other will be traced after awritten statement is provided by the family, he said.
Today, the minister said, the girl first claimed that her phone was stolen”and later handed her phone over but with the data deleted”.
He said the CCTV footage of the time of the incident was reviewed and itwas found that she used three, not two taxis. “She took a taxi from DamanKoh and did not return home,” said Rashid.
The minister said three videos were reviewed and an attempt to acquire afourth was being made. “The girl went from F-7 to Daman Koh and then to theF-9 Park area,” the minister said, detailing the events of the day.
When the girl stepped out of her home, she walked over to Khadda Marketfirst for shopping, he said.
The minister said that a point in her journey past Gakhar Plaza is a blindspot and the authorities don’t have footage of that area at the time. “Thegirl also used her mobile phone internet services while at Daman Koh,” hesaid.
Read Top Stories
The minister went on to say the photograph circulating on the media “doesnot belong to the girl”.’Case to be solved in 72 hours’
Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Rashid said it wasexpected the case would be solved within 72 hours. He accused India ofplaying up the “kidnapping” of ambassador’s daughter to malign Pakistan.
“We will present the entire, true picture in front of the world,” he said,adding that Pakistan’s importance in the region has shot up due to PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s popular foreign policy moves.
“After PM Khan’s ‘absolutely not’ stance received immense popularity bothin Pakistan and abroad, India is not letting go of any opportunity toincrease its propaganda against Pakistan,” he added.
The Afghan envoy and other senior diplomats would go back to Kabul untilall security threats are removed, Afghanistan said.
The announcement came a day after a daughter of the Afghan ambassador wasallegedly kidnapped briefly and tortured in Islamabad.
“Following the abduction of the daughter of Afghan ambassador in Pakistan,the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have recalled theAfghan envoy and other senior diplomats from Islamabad back to Kabul untilall the security threats are removed,” the foreign ministry said. Itdemanded arrest and prosecution of the alleged kidnappers.
Silsila Alikhil, daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to PakistanNajibullah Alikhil, was allegedly kidnapped briefly by unknown assailantswho left her with injuries and rope marks.
A medical examination report shared on social media and confirmed by thePakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the state hospital where Alikhilwas treated, earlier said she was admitted with swelling and rope marks onher wrists and ankles.
The report had given her age as 26 and said she was held for more than fivehours and also noted that she had some swelling in the brain’s rearoccipital region.
