RAWALPINDI: The judicial magistrate remanded the prime suspect involved in the kidnapping of Wajiha Farooq Swati in police custody for four days.

The suspect, who is Wajiha’s husband, will be produced in the court on Monday.

The suspect, who had obtained pre-arrest bail until Dec 22, was taken into custody by the Morgah police after he was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Zaheer Safdar Malik on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Rao Sardar Ali Khan asked police to trace the missing woman and submit a progress report to him on the case. The IGP directed City Police Officer Sajid Kiani to supervise the investigation himself.

According to police, since the missing woman is a US citizen, a legal attaché from the US embassy had visited former city police officer Athar Ismail to get details of the investigation. Wajiha’s family was asked to cooperate with the police.

Investigators had looked into her travel history to see if she had travelled from Pakistan after her arrival in October, but no such information was found. In addition, the police contacted Wajiha’s nephew in London as he had travelled with her to Pakistan in October but later went back.

Abdullah Mehdi Ali, resident of Hayatabad Peshawar, stated in the first information report that his mother Wajiha Farooq Swati arrived in Islamabad on Oct 16 from London with his cousin.

Their scheduled return flight was on Oct 22 from Islamabad that she never boarded, he said, adding that his mother and her two minor children and he himself had been residing in the US.

She left two of his minor siblings with their aunt as she was to travel to Pakistan for settlement of property and other issues with the suspect.

The suspect took her and his cousin with him to his house in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) where they stayed, he said, adding that, however, when his cousin woke up in the morning, both Wajiha and the suspect were missing.

He claimed that after he created a scene, the servants tried to lock him up in a room, but he managed to escape from the house and later left the country using an emergency passport since his original documents were with his mother.

Station House Officer Tariq Aziz told Dawn that Ms Wajiha stayed with her husband for two days, who had not divorced her till now and then went missing.

It is mentioned in the FIR that Mr Ali firmly believes that the suspect abducted his mother. He also added that the suspect had threatened him and his aunt of killing his mother if the matter was reported to the police.

Ever since Wajiha’s disappearance, no one has been able to contact her.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021