Among the recent cases is an eight-year-old boy who was kidnapped on May 8 while playing outside his house in the jurisdiction of the New Town police. The boy was held captive for nine days somewhere in the NWFP. During this period, he was only fed twice but was drugged repeatedly.

The kidnappers initially demanded Rs15 million in ransom but after negotiations with the boy’s parents agreed to accept Rs4.5 million as the latter could not arrange more than that. Police were not fully involved in the rescue mission for fear of the boy’s life but they claimed that they knew how much amount the parents had paid to the kidnappers.

The boy’s mother cried while quoting her son describing his ordeal. It was a Sunday and the boy, a class-II student, was playing outside his home when a white car pulled up and the men inside tried to entice the boy to go with them if he wanted to see the new car his father had bought for him. The boy refused as his father was at home at that time and had not spoken anything like this to him. Noticing the boy’s reluctance, one of the occupants dragged him into the car and sped away. The boy was injected with some tranquilizer to make him unconscious. The next morning, when he woke up he found himself in Peshawar.

The boy’s mother said the kidnappers contacted them about 1-1/2 hours after her son went missing. The kidnappers threatened to kill the boy if Rs15 million were not paid to them. She begged them to release her son as he was suffering from nose bleeding. But the kidnappers were unmoved and threatened they would resell the boy if the ransom was not paid. However, when the kidnappers found the boy’s parents could not meet their demand they reduced the ransom to Rs9 million and then to Rs7 million on the fourth day. The number of kidnappers was three and one of them was ‘Icecreamwala uncle’ according to the boy. The three kidnappers had a brawl with each other over the issue of lowering the ransom money. The boy was given cold drinks and burgers only twice in nine days but was frequently drugged. The kidnappers said the boy would be released four hours after the ransom money was paid. They changed seven locations for receiving the ransom money but none of them appeared on the scene.

When contacted, anti-kidnapping expert, SSP Rana Shahid, confirmed that the boy was released after his parents paid the ransom to the kidnappers. He said he was unable to understand why the boy’s father was reluctant to get help from the police. ‘Either they were afraid or had some problems which they did not want to share with the police,’ SP Shahid said. A few days ago, City Police Officer Rawalpindi Rao Mohammad Iqbal called the boy’s father to his office to discuss the issue. But the CPO’s efforts yielded nothing. SP Shahid said kidnapping for ransom started in Rawalpindi in 2002. There was a gang led by one ‘Ikram’ and another man led a gang known as ‘Afghan gang’.

He recalled that there was a gang of kidnappers which had abducted a lawyer from Taxila. It had links with Al Qaeda and other Jihadi organisations. He acknowledged that the police had been unsuccessful in busting the kidnappers’ gang that a motorway police head constable Khalid Rahim was allegedly heading.

The SP said since the New Town kidnapping case no other incident had occurred; still there were some small gangs operating in Rawalpindi. What is worrying the citizens is the reluctance of victims in seeking police help. But this is something for the police to be worried about as it reflects on their performance. Besides, having failed in their duty the police do not even have some sympathy for the victims. Did any senior police officer or public representative visit the boy’s family to share their suffering and assure them that all resources would be utilised in smashing the kidnappers’ gang? The answer is no.