ISLAMABAD, June 28: The family members of Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed, who went missing in Karachi on June 17, have appealed to the government to help them recover the two men. Hafiz Waheedullah Khan, the father of Dr Akmal and Dr Arshad, who has come to Islamabad, visited the offices of Dawn on Monday afternoon.

"My wife is a cardiac patient, anxiously waiting for the return of her sons and their children are bewildered asking as to where their fathers have gone. I appeal to the government to have pity on us and recover my sons," Mr Khan said.

He feared some conspiracy in the disappearance of his sons, who had worked in a medical centre set up by nine NGOs from different countries at Chaman, close to the Pak-Afghan border during the Afghan war.

"It was a big surprise for us when former Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the BBC on June 13 morning broadcast that Dr Akmal Waheed had been arrested. We were surprised because at that time no such thing had happened and Dr Akmal Waheed was engaged in his routine duties without fear," he said. We became worried when we received a phone call from some unknown persons who said that they had kidnapped Dr Akmal and Dr Arshad.