ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Sunday cleared the mystery surrounding the kidnapping of Afghan ambassador’s daughter and said it “was not an abduction” at all.
“This is an international conspiracy. An agenda of RAW,” he told a news channel on Sunday evening. He was referring to the Indian intelligence agency.
Reports of “abduction” and “torture” of Afghan ambassador’s daughter surfaced 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 thorough probe has been launched and law enforcement agencies “are trying to trace and 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 to the bottom of the matter within 48 hours.
On Sunday evening, the minister shared an update into the probe, saying that Afghan ambassador’s daughter used the services of two taxis, and that the driver of one has been contacted. The other will be traced after a written 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 it was found that she used three, not two taxis. “She took a taxi from Daman Koh and did not return home,” said Rashid.
The minister said three videos were reviewed and an attempt to acquire a fourth was being made. “The girl went from F-7 to Daman Koh and then to the F-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 Market first for shopping, he said.
The minister said that a point in her journey past Gakhar Plaza is a blind spot and the authorities don’t have footage of that area at the time. “The girl also used her mobile phone internet services while at Daman Koh,” he said.
The minister went on to say the photograph circulating on the media “does not belong to the girl”.
‘Case to be solved in 72 hours’
Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Rashid said it was expected the case would be solved within 72 hours. He accused India of playing 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 Prime Minister Imran Khan’s popular foreign policy moves.
“After PM Khan’s ‘absolutely not’ stance received immense popularity both in Pakistan and abroad, India is not letting go of any opportunity to increase its propaganda against Pakistan,” he added.
Afghanistan withdraws ambassador from Pakistan
The Afghan envoy and other senior diplomats would go back to Kabul until all security threats are removed, Afghanistan said.
The announcement came a day after a daughter of the Afghan ambassador was allegedly 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 the Afghan envoy and other senior diplomats from Islamabad back to Kabul until all the security threats are removed,” the foreign ministry said. It demanded arrest and prosecution of the alleged kidnappers.
Silsila Alikhil, daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan Najibullah Alikhil, was allegedly kidnapped briefly by unknown assailants who left her with injuries and rope marks.
A medical examination report shared on social media and confirmed by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the state hospital where Alikhil was treated, earlier said she was admitted with swelling and rope marks on her wrists and ankles.
The report had given her age as 26 and said she was held for more than five hours and also noted that she had some swelling in the brain’s rear occipital region.
