MoFA objects to ongoing comments by Pakistani minister over kidnapping

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has raised concerns about the continued remarks by the Pakistani Minister of Interior, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad.

According to a statement issued by MoFA, it has once again expressed its deep concern “over the continuation of the unprofessional remarks of the Minister of Interior of Pakistan in connection with the abduction of the daughter of Afghan ambassador in Islamabad”.

“While the investigation process has not yet been completed and the perpetrators have not been arrested, the continuation of unilateral statements and unprofessional prejudices will call into question the transparency of the investigation and increase distrust,” the statement read.

According to MoFA, mental and physical torture of the ambassador’s daughter has been recorded in a hospital report. Based on this report, MoFA said “we expect unprofessional prejudices to be avoided before the investigation is completed, and instead all efforts will be made to obtain evidence and complete the investigation process, as well as to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators”.

MoFA also stated it is committed to fully cooperating in the investigation and hopes that the reasons for the incident and the results of the investigation, based on the findings of the delegations of the two countries, will be completed and announced soon.

The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Silsila Alikhil was briefly kidnapped and injured by unknown assailants on Friday in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

At the time, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said she was “severely tortured” and later said senior diplomats including the ambassador had been recalled.

Pakistani officials said Silsila Alikhil, who is in her 20s, was assaulted by assailants who got into a car she was travelling in and beat her up.

After her release she was treated in hospital.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister said on Sunday however that according to the investigation, there was no case of abduction and claimed the Afghans and Indians are trying to “twist the facts”. He said the kidnapping was an “international conspiracy”.

Again on Tuesday, Ahmed accused Afghanistan and India of “distorting” the facts related to the kidnapping, Dawn News reported. Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, the minister said the incident was not a kidnapping and is part of a series of attempts to defame and destabilise Pakistan.