ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday the “kidnapping” claim by the Afghan envoy’s daughter was not corroborated by evidence as Silsila Alikhil asked Islamabad to “honestly” investigate her case.
Alikhil, the daughter of Afghan ambassador Najibullah Alikhil, last month reported she was abducted in the middle of the Pakistani capital of on July 16, held for several hours and brutally attacked.
While Pakistani investigators said evidence collected did not corroborate the kidnaping claim, in a video released on Tuesday and endorsed by the Afghan foreign ministry Alikhil called on Pakistani authorities to probe the case in an “honest manner” and arrest the perpetrators “without any further delay.”
In response, the Pakistan foreign office spokesperson, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, said Afghan investigators who recently visited Islamabad to probe the case have already been given a “comprehensive briefing on each aspect of the complaint.”
“On the basis of the complete investigation, the delegation was informed that the complaint did not corroborate the findings on the ground,” Chaudhri said in a statement, adding that the Afghan delegation had visited all the areas Alikhil had visited on the day the incident was reported.
“The delegation was informed that the technical data (geo-fencing) matched with the actual movement of complainant on the day contrary to statement of the complainant, which was further confirmed by the statements of the taxi drivers.”
He added that despite requests from Pakistani authorities, the Afghan side had not given them access to the complainant and her phone data.
“It is hoped that the Government of Afghanistan would cooperate in expeditious provision of the earlier requested information,” Chaudhri said.
A medical report after Alikhil was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad on July 16 said she had suffered blows to her head, had rope marks on her wrists and legs and was beaten.
In Tuesday’s video, she said she was returning from a busy commercial area of Islamabad on a taxi when the incident took place “in broad daylight.”
She said was visiting her parents in Islamabad as her studies abroad were online due to the pandemic.
“Since my studies were online due to COVID-19, I went to visit my parents after a long time in Islamabad,” she said. “On that day, I wanted to buy a present for my little brother and because our residence was located in the safest part of Islamabad, I took a taxi on that day.”
As she was about to go home, she added, a man entered the taxi and started beating her and he used foul language against her father.
While police started investigating the attack as soon as she reached the hospital, she said her medical checkup was not properly done and suspected some vital pieces of evidence were lost in the first few hours.
“My request for my own government, the government of Afghanistan, is to follow this case of abduction in which the dignity of a young Afghan girl and the dignity of her family and her nation (was compromised),” Alikhil said.
The Afghan government last month recalled its ambassador and senior diplomats from Pakistan after the incident.
