ISLAMABAD, June 11: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz asked Minister of State for Communications Shahid Jamil Qureshi to resign from the cabinet after he was nominated in an FIR on Monday, sources said.

The minister has been accused in the FIR of having illegally detained Kafila Siddiqui, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, who died under mysterious circumstances on Saturday night.

The minister himself said he had not received any directive from the prime minister to resign.

He alleged that the woman’s husband, Salman Qaiser, brother Mustafa Qayyum and sister Saida had been blackmailing him to extort money by implicating him in the case.

He said he would cooperate with police investigators and present himself anytime and anywhere in this regard. “I’m not guilty, I’m not involved in any wrongdoing.”

The minister’s name was reported to have been placed on the exit control list on Monday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Zafar Iqbal told Dawn that police took such precautionary measures (placing an accused on the ECL) whenever a serious crime was committed. “We request the authorities to put an accused on the ECL.”

The FIR against the minister was lodged by Mr Qayyum at the Shalimar police station under PPC sections 344 and 346.

It is a mystery why police did not start investigation and register a case immediately after the woman was brought to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences by the minister, who is said to have disappeared for some time.

In his complaint, Mr Qayyum accused the minister of detaining his sister and not allowing her to meet anyone. He said he ‘suspected’ that his sister had been killed by Mr Qureshi.

Police said a murder charge would be added to the FIR if the medical report proved that the woman’s death was not natural.

According to the sources, police recorded the statement of the minister on Monday night.

The sources said the minister was received by SHO Ghulam Mohammad Baqir when he arrived at the police station and he was provided full protocol. No-one was allowed inside till the minister was there.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said the government of Canada had sought details about Kafila Siddiqui’s death.

The interior ministry, she added, had been asked to investigate the case and submit a report which would be forwarded to the Canadian government.

The sources said police had picked up the minister’s personal secretary Shoaib Dogar and chef Allahyar for interrogation. The minister’s official vehicle was taken from his house to the police station but it was returned after a few hours.

After registration of the FIR, Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Mohammad Ali, on a police request, issued a warrant for a search of the minister’s house.

A senior government official told Dawn that police could take the minister into custody only if the medical report proved it was a case of murder.

He said magistrate Liaquat Abbasi would supervise the search of the minister’s house.

He said it was a failure of the Islamabad police not to act on a report sent by Interpol on Mr Qaiser’s complaint that his wife was being kept in illegal custody by the minister. He said the Islamabad administration had asked for a probe in this connection.

The sources said the magistrate and local police visited the street where the minister’s house was located, but they had not searched the house till late in the evening.

They said Mr Qaiser was likely to arrive in Islamabad on Tuesday morning.