Islamabad: Pakistani Police on Monday said they did not find evidence that the Afghan Ambassador’s daughter was kidnapped from the capital, an incident that had triggered a major diplomatic line between two neighboring countries.
Silsila Alikhil, a 26-year-old daughter of the Afghan Ambassador for Pakistan Najibullah Alikhil was kidnapped, tortured and attacked on Friday by unknown people in Islamabad.
He was kidnapped while driving a rental vehicle and held for several hours before being released.
He was found near the F-9 park area in the capital with a sign of torture on his body.
Overcoming a Joint Press Conference with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and National Security Advisors (NSA) Moeed Yusuf, Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Janjeelur Rehman said the police had collected video recordings of all places visited by the Messenger’s daughter which was collected with data around 300 CCTV cameras in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
“We use all our resources for investigations …
and support all law enforcement agencies,” he said, adding that kidnapping has not been proven.
Rehman said the police had analyzed all footage of the Movement of the Ambassador’s Princess on the day of kidnapping, however, “the impression given (about kidnapping) was not strengthened by the evidence we had collected”, the Dawn newspaper reported.
He said more than 220 people were interviewed and all the recordings were analyzed who showed their existence.
In a statement to the police, Alikhil said he went to buy a gift and rent a taxi.
Returning, the driver stopped on the roadside after a five minute drive and another man broke through the first time shouting at him then began to beat him.
“Because I’m afraid, so I feel unconscious,” he said.
Alikhil said after he regained consciousness, he found himself “in a place full of dirt”.
He then took a taxi to go to the nearest park from where he called his father’s colleague, who took him home.
Incidents of kidnapping and attack have deteriorated relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
On Sunday, the diplomatic crisis between the two countries was deepening after Kabul announced that it would withdraw its ambassador and other senior staff from Islamabad.
Pakistan also summoned his dubsador to Afghanistan for “consultation” to the alleged kidnapping and exemption of the Afghan envoy’s messenger.
During a press conference, QureShi Foreign Minister said Pakistan was committed to investigating his earliest logical conclusions.
He said the security of the Afghan consulate and diplomatic staff in Pakistan had been upgraded.
He said the Afghan authorities wanted to send their team to examine the “security environment” and Islamabad had responded with affirmative at their request.
He asked the Afghan government to review their decisions to remember their ambassadors.
“We have no intention of hiding anything …
we need their cooperation to take an investigation on the logical conclusion,” Qureshi said.
NSA Yusuf said Pakistan was in the middle of the targeted “hybrid war” and the information war was being used against him.
He said the incidence of kidnapping was also used to tarnish Pakistan by creating a narrative of it.
He said the focus of all efforts was to create the impression that Pakistan tried to disrupt Afghanistan and that the security situation in Pakistan was precarious.
“This is part of the campaign set where various fronts have been opened against Pakistan,” he said.
Pakistan and Afghanistan often accused the accusation, with Kabul claiming Islamabad sent thousands of militants to fight in a torn war and provide a safe place for the Taliban.
Pakistan, in turn, claimed that Harbor Afghanistan, the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani group – Pakistani Taliban – and also the Balochistan Liberation Forces were secessionist.
Afghanistan had seen the uptick in violence after the announcement of US President Joe Biden about the withdrawal of US troops and NATO from the torn country of war.