Two women among seven kidnapped
By Shakeel Anjum
RAWALPINDI: Two women among seven members of three families were allegedly kidnapped and made hostage in a private torture cell at Tahli Mohri Chowk here by an influential political figure belonging to the ruling party.
The women have allegedly been in the illegal custody of Chairman Union Council Ranial (Chakri Road) Raja Tariq Mehmood for the last three weeks but police have not taken any action against the captors despite continuous approach to the RA Bazaar police station.
Rawalpindi District Police Officer (DPO) Saud Aziz when contacted expressed his unawareness about the incident and said no one was above the law. He said the accused, regardless of his status and authority, would be dealt with according to the law.
The News tried to contact Raja Tariq but he was out of town. Raja Nasir, president PML (Rawalpindi), when contacted by this scribe for his comments, said the incident had just come into his knowledge but Raja Tariq had left for Mianwali. He said he would take up the case and try to solve the issue.
Muhammad Waheed, a taxi driver residing in Gowalmandi, told The News that his 20-year-old brother-in-law (his wife’s brother) Sarfraz Ahmad has been working as a driver for Raja Tariq for the last one year.
The 50-year-old wife of the UC chairman (mother of nine children) disappeared about three weeks back. Raja Tariq along with his force started raiding the residences of Sarfraz relatives, allegedly kidnapped male and female members, including children, and took them to Tahli Mohri and made them hostage in his private lockup adjacent to the chairman’s office.
“The captors tortured them brutally in the lockup and later – keeping the women in their custody – released the men, threatening to disgrace and even kill the women if they didn’t recover their missing woman (Raja Tariq’s wife),” Waheed alleged.
“The chairman and his son along with their armed men raided Sarfraz house in Chungi Number 22 on August 15, kidnapped his mother (Shahnaz Sultana) and badly tortured her,” Waheed alleged, adding that they were made to hear the whimper of the women over the telephone.
On the other day of the ‘operation’, the armed men led by Raja Tariq attacked other houses in Morgah and Dhoke Syedan, captured Sarfraz’s relatives – Tanveer, Naveed, Majid and Shabbir – took them to Tahli Mohri and released them after torturing them for over three hours.
Later, they raided a house in Gulshan Town (Jehlum) and kidnapped Waheed’s wife Farzana and his sons – Waqas, 14, and Sheraz, 8. His sons were released the next day after being tortured while his wife is still in their custody in Rawalpindi.
Waqas told this correspondent: “They dumped us in a Parado Jeep (9050) and took us to a multi-room ‘Haveli’, most of the rooms of which were locked. One room was open and my cousins – Naveed, Majid and Shabbir – were already there. Some persons were beating them brutally.”
“As we entered the room, the chairman pushed us to the torturers and they started beating me, my mother and Sheraz and then dragged my mother to another room,” the scared boy said.
Eight-year-old Sheraz while talking to this correspondent asked why they were kidnapped and tortured by those people and why his mother and grandmother were made hostage. “I cannot live without my mother,” Sheraz said. “Is she killed?” The innocent boy repeated many answerless questions while talking to The News.
Waheed told ‘The News’ Wednesday evening that he had received a telephone call from his wife Farzana late Tuesday night. She told her husband that Raja Tariq would personally interrogate her on Wednesday and Thursday before deciding her fate. “She doesn’t know where she is imprisoned but she has been shifted to another place in Rawalpindi,” Waheed said.
Source: The News
Date:9/7/2006
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