Abduction?: Palestinian student goes missing from Jamshoro

Police say it appears a kidnapping for ransom case.

HYDERABAD:

A Jordanian student of Palestinian descent, Muhammad Jameel, enrolled at an engineering university was kidnapped late on Wednesday night while commuting between Jamshoro and Hyderabad.

However, his friend Yousuf Abudaka, who was riding on the pillion seat, escaped the abduction and later reported the incident at the local police station.

Jameel, a final year student of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology’s Biomedical Engineering Department was intercepted by three persons riding a motorcycle.

According to Abudaka, they were asked to pull over to the side of the road but they sped away. Later a Suzuki Mehran car stopped them a few kilometres ahead, he told the police.

The incident happened within the limits of Naseem Nagar police station where a kidnapping case has been lodged. Commenting on the issue, SP Headquarters Wasee Hyder said that the incident appears to be one of kidnapping for ransom.

He, however, confirmed that the abductors had not called for ransom. Jamshoro district is home to three public sector universities, Liaquat University of Medical and Human Science, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology and Sindh University, with over 130 Palestinian students at present enrolled.



DIG meeting

A delegation of Palestinian students met DIG Hyderabad region Naeem Akram Baroka.  Badar Aqel, a final year MBBS student at Liaquat University of Medical and Human Sciences who attended the meeting, told The Express Tribune that the DIG has assured complete cooperation.

Two Palestinian diplomats in Pakistan will also visit Hyderabad to pursue the matter with the police, it was revealed.

Aqel said Jameel’s abductors had not called his friends or colleagues so far. “His economic situation is more than simple. He can’t be expected to be rich enough to pay ransom,” said Aqel, denying any enmity of the abducted student with any other student or group at the university.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2013.