ISLAMABAD: Mystery still shrouds the kidnapping of five-year-old Britain national Sahil Naqqash who was kidnapped by armed robbers from his grandmother’s home situated in Jhelum some 60 miles south of Pakistan's capital Islamabad on March 4. The governments of the United Kingdom and Pakistan are taking serious efforts to get the baby recover from the kidnappers at any cost, however, the police have been unable to trace the kidnappers three days on. Local police and officials of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency of the UK are working together to trace the child, however, they have been unable as of Sunday evening. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has requested the government of Pakistan on Sunday speed up efforts to track the British child. Taking notice of the kidnapping, Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani personally telephoned the child's father on Saturday morning and assured him of the government’s support. On Sunday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik traveled to the father’s home in Jhelum and once again assured him that Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies were seriously involved in investigations to trace the kidnappers. Talking to reporters at Sahil’s grandfather’s home, Rehman Malik said the kidnappers might be from the family or a close relative. However, Naqqash Saeed, the kidnapped child’s father, ruled out the possibility of any involvement of family member in what he described as a “heinous crime” and hit out at suggestions that any family members might be involved. On Saturday, Saeed told Bikya Masr that he has appealed to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help to bring Sahil back. Citing the reason behind this cruel act Saeed said ‘this has only happened to us because we are British and I would like the Prime Minister to help us. ‘These people targeted us because they were under the impression that being British means we are rich,” he added. Saeed said he appreciated the British Government, which according to him, “was already doing a lot behind the scenes, but I would like them to do more to bring my child back to me and I would like Gordon Brown to be personally involved.” Sahil’s father was satisfied somewhat after he was informed that UK officials had come to the country to “rescue his little baby.” Naqqash confirmed to Bikya Masr that officials of the British High Commission in Islamabad were in contact with the family. When contacted on Saturday, spokesperson of the British High Commission, Rob Murphy, confirmed that British Crime Agency was also carrying out an investigation into the baby’s kidnapping in collaboration with Pakistani police. “We are monitoring the investigation closely. The Pakistani police are taking this very seriously and the Jhelum District superintendent of police and Deputy Superintendent of police themselves are involved in the investigation. The Serious and Organized Crime Agency of [the] UK is also in contact with the Pakistani authorities as the investigation progresses. We continue to work in close cooperation with them,” Murphy said on Saturday. Following the kidnapping of the child, police have so for arrested 6 people, including a taxi driver who was schedule to take Sahil and his father to the airport for their return to England after a two-week visit. A Pakistani police official, who is key member of the investigation team told Bikya Masr on Sunday evening that police have received the telephone records of the mobile phone of the taxi driver who was driving the family to the airport at the time when robbers kidnapped the child. The same police official claimed that the investigation team has garnered important clues from these records and believe it could lead to the kidnappers. On Sunday, top police officials suspended five police officials of Jhelum district in connection with Sahil’s kidnapping. According to district police officer Mohammad Azam, the officials were found guilty of negligence. The five-year-old was snatched from his grandmother's house and the perpetrators held the family at gunpoint for several hours. The kidnapping is similar to the abduction of another Pakistani-British boy in the same town last year. In that case, the boy was released after four days after a ransom was paid. The kidnappers were never caught. The parents of the freed boy held a private meeting with Saeed on Friday night to tell him how they coped with the ordeal. One investigator told Bikya Masr that Saeed took the child out of school and flew with him to his family’s home in Pakistan, leaving his wife Akila and their two daughters behind in Oldham. Surprisingly, he took his wife’s passport with him so she could not follow them to Jhelum, the official said. When contacted Saeed denied such reports of alleged rifts with his wife. “This is nonsense. who told you this? I really condemn this as there has been no rift between us. Ever,†Saeed shouted when contacted. Since Wednesday’s kidnapping, Saeed has claimed he took Sahil to Pakistan to pay a surprise visit to the boy’s maternal grandmother, who has been unwell. One source said that he left with Sahil after a “major falling out” that threatened his marriage and may have been considering taking his son permanently to Jhelum. According to insiders, although Mrs. Saeed knew her husband was taking Sahil to Pakistan, it was not until they had left that she realized he had taken her passport. It was only when family elders in Jhelum intervened that they supposedly patched up their marriage via “emotional” phone conversations. BM
