AFGHAN ENVOY DAUGHTER’S ABDUCTION: PAK DRAGS IN INDIA

Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has alleged that Afghanistan and India are “distorting” the facts related to the kidnapping of the daughter of Afghan envoy in Islamabad, as per a Dawn report on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, the Minister said the incident was not a kidnapping and is part of a series of attempts to defame and destabilise Pakistan. Silsila Alikhil, the daughter of Afghan envoy Najibullah Alikhil, was abducted in Pakistan for several hours on Friday and was severely tortured by unknown individuals on her way home. The Pakistan interior minister said that the investigation conducted by the authorities found no evidence of abduction in the incident concerning the ambassador’s daughter.

“According to our investigation, the incident involving the daughter of the Afghan ambassador is not a case of kidnapping,” Geo News quoted the minister as saying.

According to the victim’s statement, she was returning home in the afternoon in a taxi after visiting a bakery in the capital city of Islamabad when the driver picked up another man. That man verbally abused and assaulted her. Later she was dropped in an unconscious condition on the roadside.

“No man sat in any taxi and according to our investigation, this is not an abduction case,” the minister said while adding that Afghans and Indians are trying to “twist the facts.” Rasheed went on to claim that conspiracies were also being hatched to cause misunderstandings between China and Pakistan.

“Certain international powers do not want Pakistan and China’s friendship (to flourish), and hence, they perpetrated actions such as the Dasu (bus tragedy),” the interior minister alleged.

Recalling the recent Johar Town blast and Dasu explosion, the minister said these incidents were a part of “hybrid warfare” against Pakistan. Rashid said, “efforts are being made to give a (false) impression to the rest of the world that the security situation in Pakistan is not good.” 

Afghanistan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and expressed deep concerns over the Pakistani Interior Minister’s remarks on the ongoing investigation into the abduction of the Afghan Ambassador’s daughter. 

Atmar said that “unprofessional remarks and premature judgments” could strongly affect bilateral relations and the credibility of the ongoing, and still incomplete investigation, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “An Afghan delegation will visit Pakistan, and subsequent actions will be taken regarding the return of the Afghan Ambassador and diplomats based on the delegation’s assessments and findings,” it said.