Missing Pak girl might have been kidnapped for ransom: Police

A young Pakistan woman, who went missing last week, might be kidnapped for ransom, police said on Friday even as her family denied reports of having received a call for payment, according to media reports.

Dua Mangi, 19, was kidnapped by armed men from Bukhari Commercial area in the city in Sindh province on Sunday while her friend Haris Fatah Soomro was shot at and wounded, the Dawn newspaper reported.

It appears to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, Sharjeel Kharal, South Zone Deputy Inspector General, who is leading teams of police probing the incident, was quoted as saying in the report on Thursday.

The police has also appealed to the people to help them locate the missing girl.

Meanwhile, Mangi's family has criticised the Sindh Police and the provincial government for their failure in recovering the abducted girl.

They claimed that the rumours of ransom were being spread to divert attention from the protests demanding the girl's recovery and to cover up the authorities' failure, The Express Tribune report said.

Police were investigating the case from different aspects and more than 12 people have been questioned, a Karachi police spokesperson said.

The Dawn reported that the police and Citizens-Police Liaison Committee were also probing the incident from the perspective of a past kidnapping case where a girl was kidnapped in May and she returned home reportedly after payment of ransom.

Lawyers and members of civil society, students and Mangi's relatives on Thursday held a protest demonstration outside Karachi Press Club for her safe recovery.