KARACHI, June 21: The case of Dr Akmal Waheed and his brother Dr Arshad Waheed, earlier believed to have been kidnapped for ransom, took an unexpected turn on Monday when his family members blamed the law-enforcement agencies for their disappearance.

At a press conference held in the Karachi Press Club, Dr Akmal Waheed's wife Dr Fouzia Waheed, Dr Arshad Waheed's wife Farzana Naz, and the doctors' father Hafiz Waheedullah Khan claimed that the agencies were keeping the two doctors in confinement against the laws of the land and that no kidnapping ever took place.

They pointed out that in an interview with Urdu Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid had claimed on June 13 that Dr Akmal Waheed had been arrested alongwith Jundallah's Attaur Rehman and Shehzad.

"We were taken aback at Sheikh Rashid's statement because at that point in time my son had not been arrested," said Hafiz Waheedullah Khan. "In fact Dr Akmal was busy in his routine work for the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases (NICVD) and Hamdard University," he said.

Mr Khan said that the day they disappeared, the two doctors had called their family members and told that after meeting some people, whose office was situated close to Hotel Marriott, they would reach their home. "However, my sons never reached home.

"Instead, we received a phone call claiming that my sons had been kidnapped for ransom. The caller said the ransom amount was Rs10 million." The doctors' father said that the caller also notified the place where their abandoned car was parked.

"We informed the police and CPLC about the call and when they sent their people and we sent ours', we found the car at the place mentioned." Mr Khan informed the newsmen that the doctors' driver, Mumtaz, was also missing. "In that regard, a case has also been registered by the Jackson police station."

In response to a question, Mr Khan said his family had received only one call from the 'kidnappers'. "Look, we are not rich people. We belong to the middle class. It's strange that some people kidnap for ransom a couple of doctors who are not rich."

Mr Khan also told the journalists that some people belonging to the law-enforcement agencies had raided his sons' house in Bostan-i-Malir several months ago. "One morning, some agency people surrounded their house before knocking at the door.

"One of my sons was at home who talked to them. Subsequently, the house was searched thoroughly. Even the store was ransacked but nothing of importance was recovered." Mr Khan said that a few weeks ago Dr Akmal Waheed, an employee of the NICVD, was supposed to have been invited to the United States for some course or workshop.

However, Dr Waheed declined to go to the US because the institution he worked for had no knowledge of the invitation. "When the offer was turned down, my son started getting threatening telephone calls. Some of the calls were particularly obnoxious."

Mr Khan said on June 10, Dr Akmal Waheed wrote a letter to the NICVD administration, bringing on record the threatening calls that were regularly received by him. "You can see for yourself this letter which is with the NICVD administration."

The wives of the two doctors - Dr Fouzia Waheed and Mrs Farzana Naz - reiterated that their husbands were not involved in underground activity. "My husband served the people of this country," said Dr Fouzia Waheed. "And the humanitarian work that he did was not secret. But what the authorities have done is totally against the Constitution." Meanwhile, a source told Dawn that on Thursday the Waheed brothers had gone to a CID office, situated near the Hotel Marriott.

He claimed that Dr Akmal Waheed had gone to Afghanistan, Iran and even Iraq in recent years. "But he did not go to these countries to wage a war against the Americans but to provide medical aid to the people of these countries whenever the need for the same arose," said the source.

"If the claim made by the family of Dr Akmal Waheed is true, the agencies must have picked him and his brother on suspicion of being involved in underground activity," added the source.