KARACHI, Sept 11: The family of the British student, picked up by an intelligence agency, denied that Shoaib Siddiqui was affiliated to any militant or sectarian outfit. The British-born Shoaib Siddiqui came to Pakistan for doing a selective study course as he has been studying in the final year in King’s Medical College in Britain. “He is becoming a doctor and not an engineer. The intelligence agencies might have wrongly picked up my son,” the father of the student, Obaid Siddiqui, told Dawn.

He clarified that his son never stayed in Defence Housing Authority as was reported in a section of press. “My son was staying with his maternal uncle in Gulshan-i-Rafi, Malir”, he added.

However, the security sources said that Shoaib Siddiqui was picked up from his residence in Defence Housing Authority. According to them, Shoaib collected his travel documents from the house and told his hosts that he had been going to have dinner with his friends. He did not return the whole night and the next day. He called and told his hosts that he was in Hyderabad, and would come in the evening, but he never returned.

Mr Obaid claimed that Shoaib did not have friends in Pakistan and he was taken away by three people forcibly on Aug 20. He talked to his parents the next day and since then his cell phone remained switched off. “Shoaib was born in Britain. I took him to Pakistan in 1985 when he was six or seven years old.

This is his second visit to Pakistan. He had choices to do the course in other countries but he preferred to do it in Pakistan to grab the opportunity to meet his relatives here,” the father added.

About Shoaib’s visit to northern areas, Mr Obaid said that Shoaib did go to Rawalpindi with his uncle Shafqat Mehmood, a representative of the UK Islamic Mission. Shoaib visited Peshawar, Abottabad and Swabi with his uncle. Shoiab had diarrhoea and he did not meet anyone, he added.

He said that his son was never affiliated to any political or religious party. Shoaib was not a member of any militant or sectarian outfit.

“We are baffled to learn that my son was picked up. At least we should be informed why my son was picked up and what was his fault,” he queried.