Amid fall in kidnappings, police remained clueless about young women’s abductions in 2019

Although the cases of kidnapping for ransom in the year 2019 showed a downward trend, a new trend of unsolved kidnapping cases of young women was witnessed in Karachi in the year as two young women were abducted from a posh locality of the city and released after the payment of ransom while the law enforcers remained unable to track down the perpetrators.

There were many similarities in both the kidnappings as the women were abducted in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) when they were at some teashop or returning from it. Moreover, they both were kidnapped during weekends at gunpoint from criminals who had arrived in cars.

The first of the two incidents took place on May 11 when a 20-year-old woman, Bisma Saleem, daughter of a businessman, was kidnapped at gunpoint outside a house on Khayaban-e-Seher in DHA. She was abducted by four armed men who had arrived in a car while she was returning home after having tea at a roadside restaurant in the area.

The woman was herself in a car when the kidnappers approached her. Though her driver was present in the car, he was sitting in the rear seat as she was herself driving the vehicle. After the kidnapping, the woman returned home after a few days when the family had paid the ransom.

The second kidnapping occurred on November 30 when a 20-year-old law student, Dua Mangi, was kidnapped by armed men in Bukhari Commercial in DHA. She was walking down the street near the Master Chai Wala with her friend Haris Fatah Soomro when the kidnappers came. As Haris tried to resist them, they shot and wounded him.

The young woman returned home on December 7, one week after she was kidnapped. It was said that she was released after her family had paid the ransom. Besides these two cases involving young women, seven other cases of kidnapping for ransom were also reported during 2019, making a total sum of nine, according to the statistics issued by the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC). The data revealed that July was the worst month in terms of abductions as four cases were reported in the month. One case of kidnapping for ransom was reported each in January, May, August, September and October.

No explanation from police

Mystery continues to surround the kidnappings and the circumstances of the release of both the women as the investigators failed to trace not only the kidnappers but also the cars. What deepened the mystery was also the fact that the investigators did not share the progress in their investigations with the families and the media, due to which many questions have not been unanswered.

Especially, after the recent notification issued by the Sindh government that bars the government officials from speaking to the media, police officers have stopped providing any information to crime reporters, covering their inefficiency in solving various crime cases, particularly the recent cases of kidnapping for ransom.

Both the abducted women reached their homes themselves and they were not recovered from some place, which again raised many questions that were not answered by the police.

“Sorry, I can’t talk to you as we are not allowed to talk to the media,” said District South Investigation SSP Aijaz Roy when The News approached him to comment on the police’s failure in the investigations of the kidnapping cases.

Family version

The family of Dua expressed their disappointment with the investigators for failing to arrest the kidnappers. They fear that if the gang is not busted, they can kidnap another young woman.

“The kidnappings of young women are like ‘time bombs’, which can blast at any place any time,” Dua’s uncle Aijaz Mangi told The News. “We are not worried now as our Dua has returned safe. But it should be a matter of concern for the elite families as they [the kidnappers] had demanded Rs200 million [as ransom].”

Aijaz said the criminals had mistaken Dua as a girl from an elite class and kidnapped her, initially demanding a ransom of Rs200 million for her release. He added that the kidnappers later realised that Dua’s family could not pay so much amount so they decreased the ransom amount to Rs2 million.

“They [investigators] failed to probe Bisma’s case. They don’t work on Dua’s case. Are they waiting for another woman’s kidnapping?” he questioned. “It is clear that they are not kidnapping the girls for raping them but they are doing this for ransom and the elites of our society should be worried over this.”

The unsung hero

Haris, who has been an unsung hero as he was shot by the kidnappers for trying to stop them from abducting Dua, was critically injured due to the bullet that had hit him in the neck.

A security guard nearby, who had witnessed the scene, told the family that Haris fell on the ground after being shot and tried to use his mobile phone but could not hold it. The guard came to his help and found him covered in blood. He offered the injured youth his mobile phone but as he could not hold it, he told the guard the phone number of his mother so that he could dial it for him.

As the mother picked up the call, Haris was just able to say to her that he was dying and that he loved her, before he fell unconscious, after which the guard talked to the family and told them about the incident.

Haris’s father Abdul Fateh recalls the moment as perhaps the hardest time of his life as his son had called the family to inform them that he was about the leave the world. “But I kept my nerves and went straight to Jinnah hospital. There the police called us to the NMC [National Medical Centre].”

Though Dua returned home safely, Haris is still hospitalised. The bullet that entered his body from the neck damaged his spinal cord from two points. “We are hopeful that he will be able to walk on his legs again but the science is not as hopeful as us. Still, we are committed to his health and Haris will be shifted to Rawalpindi for rehabilitation therapy,” the father said.

He added that his son was shot because he had put up resistance to the perpetrators who were trying to kidnap his friend Dua. “I asked him why did you do this and he answered me, ‘Baba (Father), how would I not stop them, they were taking my friend away. I would do this again and bet my life if my friend is in danger. I have no regrets.’.”

The father remarked that in this difficult time he is in fact getting strength from his hospitalised son who is even not sure whether he would be able to walk the same way in a street as he was walking that fateful night.

“People who had gathered at the spot told us that even in so much pain Haris had only one thing to say. ‘Don’t worry about me. Save Dua’,” the father said.

When Dua returned, she came to see her friend at the hospital. The two friends looked at each other but did not say anything. “She herself was in a shock. Her eyes were watery but perhaps she did not want to cry in front of Haris thinking that her tears might make him tense,” the father remarked.

He also thanked the Sindh government for cooperating with the family and showing compassion. The government did not leave us alone in this, he said, adding that the government not only bore the hospital expenses but also called in a doctor from the United States who is a specialist in rehabilitation of such cases.

The father said the doctor had given them the hope that Haris will be able to stand on his feet and walk again.

Trends in kidnapping cases

The kidnappings for ransom are not a new phenomenon in Karachi as the city has witnessed many modes of abductions such as short-term kidnappings for ransom.

Looking at the past cases of kidnapping, one finds that only various gangs from rural Sindh and Balochistan have been involved in this crime but there is also a history of the involvement of officials of law enforcement agencies in abductions.

Although no high-profile kidnappings have been witnessed in Karachi in recent years, many such cases took place in the city a decade ago, in which even terrorist groups were involved.

One such kidnapping case was of Shaukat Afridi, a contractor supplying fuel oil to the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf). He was kidnapped on May 9, 2008, on Shahrah-e-Ghalib in Clifton by suspected terrorists. He remained in the captivity of his kidnappers for more than four months and was killed when police raided the kidnappers’ hideout in Saeedabad in September 2008.

The year 2008 had also witnessed another high-profile kidnapping, which was of a prominent Pakistani film-maker and distributor, Satish Anand, who is also a relative of famous Indian actress Juhi Chawla. He was abducted on October 20 while he was on his way within the limits of the Frere police station to his home in Clifton.

Later, some suspects were arrested for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping. The police claimed that the suspects had assisted a co-accused, Major (retd) Haroon Ashique, and two others, Nawaz Khan and Waheed Rasheed, who were arrested in Rawalpindi in connection with the kidnapping.

Anand returned home after spending six months in the captivity.

In 2011, another major kidnapping of industrialist Riaz Chinoy took place who was abducted by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab. The kidnappers initially demanded Rs70 million in ransom for his release but they decreased their demand to Rs20 million after negotiations. Later, at least three alleged terrorists were killed and two policemen injured during a raid that was carried out in Korangi to recover Chinoy.

In August 2013, some officers and a worker of the Naval Intelligence were found to have formed a gang for kidnapping traders and industrialists for ransom. The kidnapped persons were kept by the gang in the headquarters of the Naval Intelligence, adjacent to the Chief Minister House.

The matter came to the fore when on August 26, a well-known fisheries trader, Javed, was kidnapped while returning from Boat Basin where he had gone to have meal. A ransom of Rs5 million was demanded for his release.

Expert opinion

Former CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy, who has had expertise in dealing with the cases of kidnappings for ransom, told The News that the cases of kidnappings are very sensitive and they need full dedication of the officers.

When asked to comment on the kidnappings of Bisma and Dua, he said, “I think that a single gang of kidnappers is behind both the kidnapping cases and the investigators should take both the abductees and their families into confidence and they will definitely get some lead.”

He added that his experience suggested that the gang behind the young women’s abductions is local and educated. “This gang has operated in a way that is beyond the investigators’ imagination, due to which it seems they know how the investigators probe such cases.”

“There are much similarities in both the cases such as the young women apparently appearing to be from the elite class were kidnapped and both the cases occurred in DHA when the women were either at a roadside teashop or returning from a teashop and a weekend day was chosen for the abduction. The kidnappers seem to be educated and young locals who contacted the families through messaging apps and foreign numbers as well.”