Pakistan dismisses Afghan envoy's daughter's abduction, calls it an 'international racket'

Days after Afghan envoy's daughter Silsila Alikhail was kidnapped and assaulted by an unknown group of perpetrators in Islamabad, Pakistan continues to evade responsibility for the incident. Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Sunday claimed that the kidnapping of Silsila Alikhail was an 'international conspiracy'. In an interview with Pakistan's Geo News, the Minister alleged that investigation up to this point had shown that there were no signs of kidnapping and claimed that the daughter of the Afghan envoy 'wasn't kidnapped at all'. 

Speaking to Speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan Imran Khan's Minister said, "There has been no kidnapping. I want to tell the entire nation, this is an international racket, an international conspiracy."

Divulging details of the case, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that the Afghan ambassador’s daughter had left her home on foot and arrived at a market on July 16. "From the market, she took a taxi to Khadda Market for shopping. We were able to know about this with the help of the Safe City Cameras," the minister disclosed. Further, Rasheed said that from Khadda Market, the ambassador's daughter took another taxi to Rawalpindi. 

"We also have a footage of her getting out of a taxi at a Rawalpindi shopping mall," Rasheed said, further adding that she then took a third taxi to arrive at Daman-e-Koh. "The only gap [in the investigation] that we are facing is that how was she able to arrive at Daman-e-Koh from Rawalpindi," the minister added. 

Daughter of Afghan’s envoy to Pakistan abducted 

On July 16, Afghanistan's envoy to Pakistan Najib Alikhail's 26-year-old daughter Silsila Alikhail was kidnapped and released after 6 hours from the capital city of Islamabad. The official statement released by Afghanistan stated that the envoy's daughter, Silsila Alikhail, was allegedly severely tortured by kidnappers before she was released. The perpetrators remain unknown to local police and officials.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, in their press release, stated that Silsila Alikhail is currently in the hospital recuperating from physical assault and multiple injuries that were inflicted upon her. The complaint letter has enumerated the Afghanistan Ambassador's daughter's grave injuries. The incident has also escalated fear among Afghan families residing in Pakistan. 

(With Agency Inputs)