FAISALABAD: The family of a German who was allegedly kidnapped on Feb 7 says they have got different police version of the case.

Thekariwala police is looking into the alleged kidnap of Ali Mohammad Din, 20, a Libya-born man, now settled in Germany.

The family says he was abducted on February 7 and his alleged captors contacted them and said they were affiliated with Afghanistan-based militants’ group - Amaraat-i-Islami.

The family says militants told them Din had joined them voluntarily and would soon fight along with Daish, or ISIS, militants.

However, the family is not convinced with caller’s claims and says mobile phone data of a man, of Chak 65-JB, is enough to prove that the youth was kidnapped.

Din came to Pakistan for the first time on Jan 8 to meet his maternal family in Chak 65-JB, Thekariwala. A kidnap case was registered with the Thekariwala police on Feb 10.

“A senior police officer earlier told us that they were not in a position to help us because of secret agencies’ involvement in the case,” a source close to Din’s family said.

Police had arrested two brothers taking lead from telephonic talks between the militants and the family. The police concluded, they said, the youth was neither in Afghanistan nor Syria but with the family which had put him in hiding to implicate their rivals in the case. The family alleges that they have been hounded by the kidnappers.

On Thursday, the family said, four people -- three riding a car and one a motorcycle -- opened fire at one of the family members. He survived the shooting.

An application has been submitted to the Factory Area police for a case.

On Thursday, a senior police officer summoned them to his office only to tell them the man had not been kidnapped at all. The police officer said the family had put him underground.

“Why will we put him underground? He was scheduled to return to Germany in the last week of February,” says a family member.

The family challenges the police to interrogate them, if they think that some family members are involved in the missing youth case.

They say the police could have a breakthrough in the case if they interrogate militant leader Qari Zarrar, who was arrested in Lahore on April 9. They say Zarrar held negotiation with them from Dalbadin, Balochistan, for the release of Ali.

The family has appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to ask Lahore police to interrogate Zarrar and Faisalabad police to form a joint investigation team to probe the issue.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2015

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