Pakistan: Unidentified men kidnap PML-N senator’s relative

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A 31-year-old man, identified as the brother-in-law of a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senator, was allegedly kidnapped outside a mosque in Islamabad, local media reported citing the PML-N senator.

According to the Dawn newspaper, PML-N Senator Afnanullah Khan said, “My brother-in-law Talha Asad is a 31-year-old married person and has been doing business of automobiles. He was kidnapped in front of his three children in F-11/2 just after he offered Isha prayers at a mosque at 8:30 pm on Saturday.”

“He was put in a Hiace vehicle, having black tinted glasses and taken away. The last location of his cell phone was Golra Sharif. We have managed to get the CCTV footage but the front number plate of the vehicle is not visible. Although there is a number plate on the rear side of the vehicle, I am sure it is fake,” he added.

Senator Khan said that his brother-in-law, a resident F-11/2, had no enmity with anyone and no one as yet contacted the family for ransom or any other demand. “So I believe that the motive is not a ransom,” Dawn quoted Khan as saying.

When asked if his brother-in-law was a very religious person and had contact with any religious group, Senator Khan said, “Although he is religious, but not as much that he would be required to intelligence agencies.”

PML-N Senator said that he hopes that Asad would be recovered soon, Dawn reported.

Police sources said that a case has been registered on the complaint of Asad’s brother. The Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani has taken cognizance of the matter and ordered the DIG operations to ensure the recovery of Talha Asad at the earliest.

Police are checking the camera footage and using advanced technology to get any clue to the kidnap victim, police sources said, claiming that they will soon arrest the suspects and recover Talha Asad.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) recently raised concerns over the enforced disappearances in the country and said that expressions of solidarity can be no substitute for concrete action toward safely recovering victims.

In a statement, the human rights body chairman Hina Jilani said that it is required that the perpetrators be identified and held responsible through a transparent and effective mechanism.

The HRCP welcomed the recent meeting between the families of forcibly disappeared persons and Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Shazia Marri, in Quetta.

“While this was a positive development, HRCP firmly believes that expressions of solidarity alone can be no substitute for concrete action towards safely recovering victims of enforced disappearances. Such action, in turn, requires that the perpetrators be identified and held responsible through a transparent and effective mechanism,” the human rights body chief said.

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances remains a painfully inadequate mechanism for ensuring that victims receive justice. Given the poor record and controversies that dog its current chairman, HRCP demanded that he be removed and the commission’s mandate strengthened to ensure its independence and integrity.

“The Cabinet’s subcommittee on missing persons must make good on its promises and act swiftly to eradicate what is recognised internationally as a crime against humanity, in the first instance, by criminalising enforced disappearances, ” Hina Jilani said in the statement. (ANI)