Daughter of Afghan envoy kidnapped and injured in Pakistan
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Afghanistan government says Silsila Alikhil was kidnapped in Islamabad, Pakistan and ‘severely tortured’ by unknown assailants.
The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan was briefly kidnapped by unknown assailants who left her with injuries and rope marks, officials and a hospital report have said.
Silsila Alikhil, the daughter of Ambassador Najib Alikhil, was on her way home on Friday when she was kidnapped and “severely tortured”, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, without giving more details of the abduction in Islamabad.
“After being released from the kidnappers’ captivity, Ms Alikhil is under medical care at the hospital,” the statement added, urging an investigation and protection for Afghan diplomats.
A medical examination report, shared on social media and confirmed by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences state hospital where Alikhil was treated, said she was admitted with swelling and rope marks on the wrists and ankles.
The report gave her age as 26, said she was held for more than five hours and also noted she had some swelling in the brain’s rear occipital region.
Amid widespread consternation over the case in both nations, Afghan authorities summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul to lodge a formal complaint.
In a statement, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns this heinous act and expresses its deep concern over the safety and security of diplomats, their families, and staff members of the Afghan political and consular missions in Pakistan”.
‘Disturbing incident’
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the Afghan embassy had informed it Alikhil was assaulted while riding in a rented vehicle.
Police were investigating the “disturbing incident” and security had been tightened for the ambassador and his family, it said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted the matter treated as top priority and the culprits caught within 48 hours, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.
Neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan have long had frosty ties.
Kabul accuses Pakistan of allowing safe havens for Taliban fighters, while Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing the armed group to use their territory to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
Both deny the charges.
Afghan ambassador’s daughter brutally assaulted in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan was abducted in the middle of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, held for several hours and brutally attacked, officials in both countries said Saturday.
No one has been arrested in connection with Friday’s assault on Silsila Alikhil, 26. The Afghan foreign ministry issued a statement demanding a quick investigation, saying she was “severely tortured.”
A hospital medical report, seen by The Associated Press, said she suffered blows to her head, had rope marks on her wrists and legs and was badly beaten. There was a suspicion that she had several broken bones and X-rays were ordered, the report said.
The report also said her abductors held her for over five hours and that she was brought to the hospital in Islamabad by police. There were no details about the abduction itself or the circumstances of her release.
Pakistan called the attack “disturbing” and said that security at the residence of the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad has been reinforced. The Afghan foreign ministry said it strongly condemns this “heinous act" and expressed concern for Afghan diplomats and their families in Pakistan.
Relations between the two countries are fraught with suspicion and animosity. They routinely trade accusations, with Afghanistan claiming Pakistan is sending thousands of jihadi militants to fight in Afghanistan and providing safe haven for the Taliban. Pakistan in turn accuses Kabul of harboring the anti-Pakistani group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan — the Pakistani Taliban — and also the secessionist Baluchistan Liberation Army.
As violence escalates in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, some within the Afghan government have stepped up verbal assaults on Pakistan.
In Kabul, the Afghan foreign ministry summoned Pakistani Ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan on Saturday to lodge “a strong protest" over the attack. The ministry said it “explicitly called on the Pakistani government to take immediate action to identify and punish the perpetrators of this crime.”
A leading female senator in Pakistan, Sherry Rahman, condemned Friday’s attack and tweeted that “the Afghanistan Ambassador’s daughter is a young woman, and should not face ANY obstacle in walking about in central Islamabad, plus more importantly, she is entitled to diplomatic protection in Pakistan.”
Hamid Mir, a well-known Pakistani journalist who survived a 2014 shooting in the southern port city of Karachi asked in a tweet how something like this could happen in Islamabad. “What is the use of expensive safe city cameras?”
He also noted that Pakistani journalists and even a police officer have been abducted in Islamabad, with few culprits ever arrested.
Most of Islamabad neighborhoods are upscale, with wide tree-lined boulevards. The Pakistani capital is home to all the diplomatic missions in the country, the majority of them located inside a heavily fortified enclave. The Afghan mission, however, is outside that enclave.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that “the safety and security of the diplomatic missions, as well as the diplomats and their families, is of utmost importance. Such incidents can and will not be tolerated.”
Associated Press writer Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, and Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.
Daughter of Afghan envoy to Pakistan hurt in kidnapping
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ISLAMABAD/KABUL, July 17 (Reuters) - The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan was briefly kidnapped by unknown assailants who left her with injuries and rope marks, officials and a hospital report said on Saturday.
Silsila Alikhil was going home on Friday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad when she was seized for several hours and “severely tortured”, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said.
“After being released from the kidnappers’ captivity, Ms Alikhil is under medical care at the hospital,” it added, urging an investigation and protection for Afghan diplomats.
A medical examination report, shared on social media and confirmed by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences state hospital where Alikhil was treated, said she was admitted with swelling and rope marks on the wrists and ankles.
The report gave her age as 26, said she was held for more than five hours and also noted she had some swelling in the brain’s rear occipital region.
Amid widespread consternation over the case in both nations, Afghan authorities summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul to lodge a formal complaint.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the Afghan embassy had informed it Alikhil was assaulted while riding in a rented vehicle. Police were investigating the “disturbing incident” and security had been tightened for the ambassador and his family, it said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted the matter treated as top priority and the culprits caught within 48 hours, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.
Neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan have long had frosty ties. Kabul accuses Pakistan of allowing safe havens for Taliban insurgents, while Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing militants to use their territory to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
Both deny the charges.
Reporting by Umar Farooq; Additional reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi in Kabul; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
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