In Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, Asma Bibi, who was kidnapped and later recovered, was overcome with emotion as she addressed the participants of the protest demanding her release. Speaking in the Brahui language, she could barely talk for five minutes due to her distress. She told the demonstrators, who had been protesting for three days on the main highway connecting Quetta to Karachi, how she was "dragged out of her home and thrown into the trunk of a car" before being abducted. "The three days of abduction were extremely painful. I neither ate nor slept during that time," she said. On the night between February 5 and 6, armed men kidnapped Asma Bibi from her home in Khuzdar. Her brother, Hafeezullah, filed a case against Zahoor Jamalzai and other individuals from Khuzdar in connection with the abduction. The abduction sparked a wave of concern across Balochistan, leading to protests that resulted in the closure of two major highways. According to police officials, the woman was recovered from the Zehri area of Khuzdar. However, the main suspect has not yet been arrested. Khuzdar police chief Javed Zehri stated that the main suspect in the woman's abduction has not yet been arrested. He added that raids are being conducted to apprehend the main suspect and other individuals involved. According to the police, further investigations are underway to uncover the full details of the case, and progress is expected soon. He stated that "recovering the woman was a major challenge for the police, and modern technology played a crucial role in reaching the location where she was being held." He added that "while the police have their methods of investigation, the technical support provided by other agencies made it possible to recover the woman quickly." Meanwhile, Balochistan's Chief Minister, Mir Sarfraz Bugti, said, "Investigations into the incident are ongoing from all angles, and the affected family will receive justice." Before learning about how Asma was abducted and what she endured during those three days, let’s first understand who Asma Bibi is.
Asma Bibi belongs to the Khuzdar district of Balochistan. Her family's ancestral home is in Anjira, but they migrated to Khuzdar city ten years ago. Explaining the reasons behind their relocation, Asma Bibi's elder brother, Dr. Attaullah Jatak, said, "Several members of our family were murdered, which forced us to leave our land and other assets in Anjira. Some of our family members settled in Khuzdar, while others moved to different cities in the province." He further revealed that Asma's abduction was not the first tragedy their family had faced. "Before this, in 2013, my sister’s fiancé was also murdered," he said. He said, "Asma's fiancé was also her cousin and was a final-year civil engineering student at the University of Engineering, Khuzdar." "Even after relocating from our hometown, we were not spared. Violating Balochi tribal traditions and all moral values, my sister was abducted," he added. He also pointed out that their home in Khuzdar is not in an ordinary location but right next to the police lines, considered a secure area in the city. "Around 14 armed men came there with ease and abducted my sister without any resistance," he said.
After Asma Bibi's abduction, her entire family reached the Quetta-Karachi Highway, Balochistan’s busiest and most important road, where they staged a sit-in and blocked the highway. On the third day of her abduction, people also blocked roads in the areas of Kalat, Surab, and Wadh, as well as the highway between Quetta and Jacobabad. However, on Monday, the police presented Asma Bibi in the magistrate's court before handing her over to her family. Around 11 PM on Sunday night, Asma Bibi was brought to the protest site, where she shared details of her ordeal with the demonstrators. Recalling the incident, she said that around 2 AM, armed men broke into her house and subjected everyone inside to violence. "They tied a cloth around my mouth and bound both my hands. Then they threw me into the trunk of a car and locked it," she said. She added, "After that, I lost consciousness, so I don’t know where they took me. But when we stopped, I was placed in a family's home." She further explained, "Perhaps the men of that family were also afraid because when I was brought there, they left just like the kidnappers leaving only the women in the house."
Before Asma’s recovery, a video statement of her with the main accused, Zahoor Jamalzai, surfaced on social media on Saturday morning. In the video, she stated that she was engaged to Zahoor Jamalzai, but her family refused to proceed with the marriage, after which they moved from Anjira to Khuzdar city. In the statement, she said, "Zahoor Jamalzai did not abduct me. I willingly went with him because my family was refusing to let us marry." However, after her recovery, Asma Bibi told the protesters that she gave this statement under duress. "Zahoor Jamalzai and others came to me and forced me at gunpoint to record that video statement. It was not given with my consent. You can see in the video yourself—I was forced," she said.
Asma Bibi stated, "The three days and nights after my abduction were extremely painful. I neither ate nor drank anything, and I couldn't sleep for even a moment during those nights." She revealed that the abductors threatened her, saying, "Even in court, you must say that you want to marry Zahoor Jamalzai." When asked whether Asma was ever engaged to Zahoor Jamalzai, as claimed in the video, her brother, Dr. Attaullah Jatak, firmly denied it. "We never arranged my sister’s marriage with Zahoor Jamalzai," he said. He added, "We are happy that our sister has been recovered, but the real culprit, Zahoor Jamalzai, and the other individuals involved in the abduction have not yet been arrested." Dr. Mahrang Baloch, an organizer of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, along with human rights activist Jalila Haider Advocate and various political parties, have demanded the arrest of all those involved in Asma Bibi’s abduction. Jalila Haider Advocate stated, "Only by arresting all the culprits and their facilitators and bringing them to justice can such incidents be prevented in the future."
On Saturday afternoon, after her recovery, Asma Bibi was presented before the media in Khuzdar city in the evening. During a press conference alongside Deputy Commissioner Khuzdar, Yasir Dashti, DIG Police Kalat Range, Sohail Khalid, stated that the Chief Minister of Balochistan had taken notice of the incident and directed authorities to ensure the immediate recovery of the woman and the arrest of the suspects. He said, "The individuals named in this case are notorious criminals who went into hiding after the incident." According to the Deputy Commissioner, "They had been involved in criminal activities before. They knew the procedures, so after the incident, they switched off their mobile phones. This is why we had to rely on technical methods to track them." He added, "With the full support of intelligence agencies, we initially arrested 15 individuals for questioning and also conducted geo-fencing." "We began tapping the phones of suspicious individuals, which led us to information that the suspects were in the Zehri area and were planning to move the woman elsewhere," he explained. He further stated that under the leadership of SP Khuzdar, a police team raided the area and safely recovered the woman. However, since the area is mountainous, the suspects spotted the police vehicles from a distance and managed to escape before they could be apprehended.
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