PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a senior army officer and two of his brothers in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police official said on Thursday.
One of the three brothers is a lieutenant colonel in army, another is serving as an assistant commissioner at a Cantonment Board and the third is an official of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), according to senior police officer Aziz-ur-Rehman.
The three brothers arrived in their ancestral village of Khadrkhel in Kulachi — a restive town on the periphery of the Dera Ismail Khan district — a day ago for the funeral of their father and were receiving people coming to offer their condolences at a mosque when they were kidnapped.
“At around 6pm yesterday (Wednesday), around 12 to 15 armed suspected militants on motorbikes forced their way inside the mosque and kidnapped the three brothers,” Rehman told Arab News.
There was no clue of where the kidnappers fled, but a vast track of nearby mountains leads to the volatile South Waziristan tribal district, according to the police official. A manhunt is ongoing to locate the kidnappers and rescue the abductees.
Rehman said the abducted officers had not informed the police prior to their arrival in the restive region.
No group has claimed the kidnapping, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who have intensified their activities in the region in recent months.
This month, two policemen were killed when a convoy of judges came under attack in the region, according to police. In February, 10 policemen were killed and six others injured in an attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan.
In April last year, Judge Shakirullah Marwat was abducted by unidentified kidnappers near a village at the junction of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts, but was recovered after a few days.
Pakistan has faced deadly attacks by the TTP since an uneasy, months-long truce with the group collapsed in November 2022.
Islamabad blames the latest surge in violence on neighboring Afghanistan, saying Pakistani Taliban militants have taken refuge there and run camps to train insurgents to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue of Islamabad and it does not allow militants to operate on its territory.
Gunmen kidnap senior army officer, two brothers in Pakistan’s restive northwest — police
https://arab.news/5pahv
Gunmen kidnap senior army officer, two brothers in Pakistan’s restive northwest — police
- The brothers were visiting their ancestral village in the Dera Ismail Khan district for the funeral of their father
- No group has claimed the kidnapping, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants
Pakistan president meets UAE counterpart, explores trade, investment opportunities
- Asif Ali Zardari is in UAE on four-day visit to strengthen bilateral ties, review bilateral cooperation
- Both sides discuss regional, international developments, reaffirm commitment to promote peace
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari met his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday during which both sides explored new opportunities in trade, investment, energy and other sectors, Zardari's office said.
Zardari arrived in Abu Dhabi on Monday evening with a high-level delegation on a four-day official visit to the UAE to review trade, economic and security cooperation.
"The leaders discussed ways to further deepen the longstanding and brotherly relations between Pakistan and the UAE," a statement from Zardari's office said about his meeting with the UAE president.
"They reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral cooperation and explored new opportunities in trade, investment, energy, infrastructure, technology, and people-to-people exchanges, highlighting the significant potential for expanding economic and strategic partnership.
Zardari highlighted the significance of Al-Nayhan's visit to Pakistan last month, the statement said, expressing appreciation for the UAE's continued support for strengthening bilateral ties.
It said both sides also exchanged views on a range of regional and international developments, reaffirming their commitment to promoting peace, stability and sustainable development.
The meeting was also attended by Pakistan's First Lady Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the Pakistani president's son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Pakistan's ambassador to the UAE.
ZARDARI MEETS AD PORTS CEO
Zardari earlier met AD Ports Group CEO Captain Mohamed Juma Al-Shamisi to discuss the group's investment initiatives in Karachi.
"Both sides agreed that the expansion and modernization of port infrastructure would strengthen trade flows and support Pakistan’s broader economic development and country’s seaborne trade," the President's Secretariat said in a statement.
It added that Zardari described the AD Ports Group's long-term investment and expanding role in Pakistan's maritime and logistics sector as a key pillar of Pakistan–UAE economic cooperation.
Pakistan and the UAE maintain close political and economic relations, with Abu Dhabi playing a pivotal role in supporting Islamabad during periods of financial stress through deposits, oil facilities and investment commitments.
The UAE is Pakistan's third-largest trading partner, after China and the United States, and a key destination for Pakistani exports, particularly food, textiles and construction services.
The Gulf state is also home to more than 1.5 million Pakistani expatriates, one of the largest overseas Pakistani communities in the world, who contribute billions of dollars annually in remittances, a crucial source of foreign exchange for Pakistan’s economy.
Beyond trade and labor ties, Pakistan and the UAE have steadily expanded defense and security cooperation over the years, including military training, joint exercises and collaboration in counter-terrorism and regional security matters.
