GUJRANWALA: The family of a woman kidnapped allegedly by a local landlord’s son a few days ago protested against the police on Sunday accusing them of siding with the kidnappers. The woman’s husband, Muhammad Ashraf, a resident of Rao area in Sialkot, said that the landlord’s son and his mother had also taken away cash and gold jewellery when they took his wife away.
The protesters gathered in front of the office of Regional Police Officer Muhammad Amin and shouted slogans against him and the police concerned.
Ashraf said that on January 23, Rafiullah and his mother Nasbah Bibi broke into his home along with three unidentified men and kidnapped his wife Fauzia Bibi at gunpoint. They also took away 30 grams of gold and Rs40,000 as well, he said. He said he had been visiting the police station for 18 days before the police there registered an FIR.
He said rather than arresting the kidnappers and recovering his wife, the police had been summoning him to the police station for questioning. Every time, he said, they sent him away without any progress in the case. He said a few days after he registered the case, some men had visited him at home and told him to leave the village. He said they threatened to kill him and his children if he did not withdraw the case and stayed back.
He said all his three children had fallen sick in the absence of their mother. Motra station house officer said that police were looking for the suspects and the kidnapped woman. He said a report had been sought by the Gujranwala deputy inspector general of police.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2013.