Abducted Islamabad girl recovered after payment of Rs1.5m ransom

Zarnish Naveed had been kidnapped by two motorcyclists from outside her house in Bahria Town on July 27

ISLAMABAD: A seven-year-old girl who had been kidnapped from outside her house in Islamabad last month has been recovered after paying a Rs1.5 million ransom, police said on Friday.

Zarnish Naveed had been abducted by two motorcyclists from outside her house in Bahria Town’s Phase II area on July 27, her uncle Captain Umar had revealed in a Facebook post.

“She was with my other nieces as they were coming back from a park when two men on a bike came from behind and took her,” he said, adding that the family was ready to fulfil the demands of the kidnappers in order to get the child back.



Her father Ahmed Naveed said, it was around 10pm and he was in the garage of the house when he heard the children’s screams. “I saw that my daughter Zarnish’s bicycle was lying on the ground and two motorcyclists were taking her away,” Naveed maintained in his application to the police, adding he tried to chase the suspects but they managed to flee.

According to him, he immediately passed on the information to the Bahria Town security following which a kidnapping case was registered at the nearby Lohi Bher Police Station within a few hours.

Photographs of the seven-year-old were circulating on social media with requests to help recover her. A Facebook page called ‘Rescue Zarnish Naveed’ garnered over 2,000 followers. Further, #ZarnishNaveed started trending on Twitter with a lot of people, including some celebrities, praying for her safe recovery.



https://twitter.com/sharmeenochinoy/status/891316721482596352

https://twitter.com/MawraHocane/status/891967673487249408

Her uncle was the first one to announce her recovery on social media. “Alhamdulillah Zarnish's back... Thank you everyone for all your prayers and concern, I along with my family are highly indebted to you all... but above all thanks to Allah Almighty,” he wrote on Facebook.

Zarnish’s family told The Express Tribune on Friday that the child returned home at around 3am after they paid the ransom to her captors. “The child has been recovered after payment of the ransom,” her father said, declining to divulge any further details for fears that it could potentially undermine the ongoing investigation.

Naveed said the police had fully cooperated with the family. “The police provided us full cooperation. Chiefs of the civilian and military intelligence agencies also contacted us for help in recovering the child,” he added.

Responding to a question, the father of the seven-year-old said ransom was paid with the consent of the police and law-enforcement agencies. “We did not want to risk her life,” he said, adding the operation to nab the suspects was underway and hoped that the case could be solved within a day or two.

“It was feared that the kidnappers crossed over into the Punjab territory from Islamabad for which the provincial government was also involved in the case,” Naveed disclosed, saying Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif also remained in contact with the family.

Meanwhile, the police remained tight-lipped about the investigation of the case, which has raised several questions on their performance. However, requesting anonymity, a police officer claimed headway had been made in the case. “Suspects are being picked up and investigated but there is nothing concrete to share at this stage,” he said.



Talking to The Express Tribune, a number of residents of the capital city raised their concerns over the performance of police and security officials of the housing society where the child had been abducted from. “They have covered the whole of Islamabad with surveillance cameras but still struggle to check such open kidnapping cases and other street crimes,” remarked Ahmed, a G-6 resident.