ISLAMABAD:
The father of a woman, who was allegedly kidnapped for ransom from the capital last July, claimed that his daughter’s life is in danger during a recent press conference.
Abbas Ali, the woman’s father, alleged his 25-year-old daughter was assaulted by the alleged kidnappers before being forcibly married to Zeeshan Haider, 16, to conceal their crime. She is now pregnant and due to give birth in a few days. He said her kidnappers were now planning to kill her.
Accompanied by his wife and daughter, Ali held a press conference appealing to the chief justice to take suo motu action against law enforcers who had failed to recover his daughter despite knowing their identities and location. “I demand that the authorities concerned recover my daughter and produce her before the media,” Ali had said.
He claimed his daughter had called him from Hangu to inform him about the threats to her life. Ali also added that the abductors were threatening to kill him and his family if he failed to withdraw court cases against them,” said Ali.
The capital’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) had assured Ali, that the case would be re-investigated and the police would try to recover his daughter. “The IGP has directed the concerned police official to submit a report within 30 days,” said Ali while speaking to The Express Tribune.
Ali and his family told journalists that his daughter was kidnapped while she was out shopping with her sister. An abduction case was registered in Shalimar Police Station against unknown men the next day. Two weeks later, the alleged kidnappers called Ali and asked for Rs7 million in ransom for her release. He said he sold his under-construction house and paid the kidnappers nearly Rs1 million, but his daughter was not set free. He showed a video where some men were shown taking money.
In the meantime, she was married to Sarwar Ali’s son, one of the four suspected kidnappers. The woman’s father said his daughter was already married to a cousin who is now living in Dubai. He also produced two marriage contracts of her daughter, including one claiming her marriage with a cousin in Sukkur in 2009. However, it was noticeable that the woman’s signatures on the two documents were visibly different from each other casting doubts over the authenticity of at least one of them. “You can confirm her signature from the National Database and Registration Authority,” said Ali when asked about the difference in signatures.
He also produced a paper claiming it was his daughter’s statement in which she has said she was being tortured by her abductors, given to her mother while she was visiting her early this year. Accompanied by women’s rights activist Dr Fauzia Saeed of Aasha, a civil society organisation, Ali told journalists that his daughter was in chains and was being tortured.
Once during her captivity, she was produced before a judge in Islamabad by the suspects but she refused to go with her parents. Her family claimed the suspects had threatened to kill her entire family beside strapping explosives on her body that day. Ali said he also filed a petition in Peshawar High Court but to no avail, while a bigamy case is pending in a local court.
No one of the four suspects was available to give their version. However, a police official from Shalimar police, who did not want to be named, said the girl had apparently married Haider of her free will, but he was not aware of the circumstances under which the girl went missing.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2012.
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