CHAKWAL, April 1: Mystery shrouds the kidnapping of two cousins who were picked up by unknown men in a well coordinated plan two weeks ago.

Family members of Noor Mohammad, 24, and Kareem Khan, 23, have spent many a sleepless nights as they wait for some clue of the two cousins’ whereabouts.

Noor Mohammad and Kareem Khan, residents of Maingan Village, used to earn their bread by labouring on tractor-trolleys.

“An unknown person started calling my brothers on the mobile a few days prior to their kidnapping, asking them to get a certain work done,” Shaista Khan, the elder brother of Kareem Khan, told Dawn.

He said the call was received from 0300-8454684, but since the abduction of the two cousins the number has been powered off.

“On March 16 at 12:30 pm, some unknown men came in a white car and took Noor Mohammad with them on gunpoint,” Shaista Khan said, adding that four hours later they came again and picked up Kareem Khan as well.

“My brothers have no animosity with anyone, nor are they linked to any proscribed organisations,” he maintained. However, in a query by Dawn, he said his brother Kareem Khan had visited Afghanistan a few months back to meet his relatives.

The family of Hawal Khan (father of Noor Mohammad) and Hakeem Khan (father of Kareem Khan) had migrated to Pakistan from Kabul in 1983, following the Soviet invasion. Since then, the families have been living in Chakwal.

They have been running from pillar to post to get a case of kidnapping registered, but to no avail.

“Station House Officer (SHO) Asar Ali of the Saddar Police Station has refused to register our FIR and has verbally said he would look into the matter,” the family members said, adding that the District Police Officer had also refused to register the case.

“If security agencies have picked up my brothers, I plead them to tell us of my brothers’ crime. If they are proven guilty, they should be punished, but such silence by the abductors is unbearable,” Shaista Khan said.

When contacted, DPO Kashif Mushtaq Kanju assured that he would look into the matter.