Woman says 4 Pakistanis arrested in Indonesia innocent

PESHAWAR: Talat Bibi, the mother of Faiq Akhtar, who has been arrested in Indonesia along with three other Pakistanis, has appealed to the government to help secure release of her son.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, she said the National Narcotics Agency of Indonesia raided a warehouse in Jepra area of central Java in Indonesia on January 27 and arrested eight persons, including four Pakistanis for allegedly smuggling narcotics.

The woman said the four arrested Pakistanis included Muhammad Riaz, Kamran Malik, Tariq and her son Faiq Akhtar. She said the Indonesian authorities had completed the investigation into the case and put up the case for a trial but the verdict was still awaited.

The woman believed that the accused Pakistanis, including her son, had nothing to do with smuggling as the warehouse belonged to Indonesian citizens, Ugan and Didit. She said the Pakistanis were only running a furniture business there. Also, the BNN did not recover any narcotic from the Pakistanis, she asserted.

Talat Bibi said her husband was sick and another son was paralysed. She
said Faiq Akhtar was the lone breadwinner for the family. The mother said her son Faiq was doing furniture business and was not involved in smuggling.

She added that the families of detained Pakistanis were passing through a severe agony and looking to the government and Pakistan embassy in Indonesia to help release their sons. The woman said the Pakistani authorities should ask the Indonesian government to announce the judgment and release the arrested Pakistanis at the earliest.