Daughter of Afghanistan’s envoy abducted, tortured in Pakistan

The Pakistan foreign ministry said police were investigating the “disturbing incident” and security had been tightened for the ambassador and his family.

The daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan Najibullah Alikhil was briefly abducted and tortured before she was released, the Afghan foreign ministry said on Saturday.

“The daughter of the Afghan ambassador to Islamabad Ms. Silsila Alikhil, was abducted for several hours and severely tortured by unknown individuals on her way home,” the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement. The incident happened on July 16.

Alikhil is under treatment at a hospital in Islamabad, the statement added.

Condemning the act, the Afghan ministry called on the Pakistan government to take immediate necessary actions to ensure the security of the Afghan embassy and consulates.

Concerned over the safety and security of diplomats, their families, and staff members of the Afghan political and consular missions in Pakistan, the ministry said: “While the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following the matter with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, we urge the Pakistani government to identify and prosecute the perpetrators at the soonest possible time.”

According to news agency Reuters, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Afghan embassy had informed it that Alikhil was assaulted while riding in a rented vehicle. Police were investigating the “disturbing incident” and security had been tightened for the ambassador and his family, it said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have long had frosty relations.

On Friday, with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan listening, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani had lashed out at him and Pakistan’s military for supporting the Taliban. Ghani’s accusation that “more than 10,000 jihadi fighters” have entered Afghanistan from Pakistan in the last month, and that Islamabad had failed to convince the Taliban to participate “seriously” in the peace talks, was rejected by Khan.

Khan said it was “unfair” to blame Pakistan for the situation in Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans have fled the country in recent days as Taliban forces have surged through northern Afghanistan following the United States’ decision to withdraw all its troops from the war-torn country by September,