Muhammad Saleem lodged an FIR stating he received a phone call earlier from a man posing as an official of the Intelligence Bureau, who asked him to meet at a bus stand. PHOTO: FILE
Muhammad Saleem lodged an FIR stating he received a phone call earlier from a man posing as an official of the Intelligence Bureau, who asked him to meet at a bus stand.
When Saleem refused, eight armed men stormed his office and took his father, Hazar Rehman, at gunpoint. The kidnappers were traveling in a double cabin pickup.
In another case, two traders registered an FIR against extortionists who were demanding millions of rupees from them.
Haji Musharaf Khan, resident of Khan Mast Colony, received an anonymous call on behalf of a militant group demanding he pay them millions of rupees in extortion. They threatened to take Khan’s life if he failed to meet their demands.
Another trader Muhammad Zaman received a similar call in Sharifabad, Yakatoot where extortionists asked for Rs20 million. The rate of extortion-related crime is a serious concern for the city’s residents and law enforcement agencies. The threats and resulting violence, sometimes as severe as grenade attacks on people’s homes, has triggered an exodus of businessmen and professionals who have fled Peshawar to safer grounds and left thousands of people unemployed. Peshawar had 22 reported extortion cases in 2013 and this year’s incidents have more than doubled in the first three months. The actual figure may be much higher because most victims do not contact police out of fear.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2014.
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