Today on the BBC News programme we discovered that 4 police officers involved in the case of missing 5yr old Sahil Saeed (kidnapped last Thursday), have been dismissed for being too lax during the early stages of the crime report. It would seem that little or no action was taken after the boys father reported the accident. Such diabolical policing, is something those who have an association with Pakistan are very aware of.
In a daily telegraph report published by Dean Nelson in Delhi and Farzana Fiaz it is apparent that conflicting stories are emanating from the Pakistani Government and Local Police (sic):
Sahil Saeed was seized by gunmen last Thursday in the last hours of a two week visit with relatives in Jhelum, in Pakistan's Punjab province.
Raja Naqqash Saeed claimed he was tortured by four armed men carrying hand-grenades as they demanded a cash payment not take the boy.
The gang eventually left with a few hundred pounds, some gold jewelry and 5-year old Sahil from Oldham. The kidnappers demanded £100,000 in ransom to be paid the following afternoon.
Contact with the kidnappers was lost and fears have since been expressed for the boy's safety.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to London said he believed the kidnapping as an 'inside job' by disgruntled family members who believe their British relatives are rich. Mr Saeed, who is unemployed, denies any of his relatives are involved.
Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to London said he believed the kidnapping as an 'inside job' by disgruntled family members who believe their British relatives are rich. Mr Saeed, who is unemployed, denies any of his relatives are involved.
Last night however the claim was repeated by Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik who said the kidnappers were close to the boy's family.
"We have certain leads which we would not like to disclose but a warning to those abductors: leave the boy because we are very near to you," he said after meeting the boy's father.
"There is someone who is very close to the family because the way the situation has happened, the way the entry was made, the way the conduct was done during the whole operation We will make sure that we make an example out of it so nobody dares to do that kind of thing."
His claims that detectives were close to arresting the kidnappers were contradicted by police in the city who said they had made no progress.
"We are totally blind with no clue in hand so far about the kidnapped child, but our investigation continues. We are concerned about the safety and security of the child," said senior police official Raja Mohammad Tahir Bashir.
It is very disturbing to the BPCA that evidence of the duality of information that comes from the Leadership in Pakistan in contrast to ground level organisations. Moreover, that fact that a leading British paper is reporting that local Police have absolutely no progress with this concern, whilst the government is purportedly laying the blame for the abduction on members of the Saeed family seems rather sordid and pernicious.
This whole incident reminds me of the Shazia Bashir case (12 year old Christian domestic servant who was raped, tortured and murdered by Mohammed Naeem, the former President of the Lahore Bar Association who has recent been freed on bail) and the manner in which initial evidence was suddenly overturned, when the purported professionals started a secondary investigation well after the incident.
I hope an pray the Saeed family receives their 5 year old boy Sahil back and that justice is eventually granted in the Shazia Bashir case.
In the meanwhile however, I believe the British Government and the European Parliament needs to review their existing "International Development" budgets to Pakistan. We need better accountability and traceability for funds that are rendered to the Government of Pakistan and a realistic plan from the Pakistani Government, for the introduction of a workable tax scheme, that will enable them to collect the requisite revenue to support themselves in future. At the moment few Pakistani's pay tax allowing feudal lords to retain power and wealth, whilst holding a nation to ransom.
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Besides this, a donation of £665 million of our taxpayers (UK Government) money going to Pakistan seems like a ludicrous response form our existing government. This coupled with a commitment to streamline the entrance of Pakistani students into our country is demoralising and wrong!
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Learn more about the ridiculous proposal agreed between Foreign Minister Ed Milliband and President of Pakistan Asif Zardari a convicted criminal - on the front page of the Pakistan Embassy website:
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