Kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative source of minting money for terror groups, especially the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) operating from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas.

In most of the kidnapping for ransom cases, the victim families get desperate for the safe return of their loved ones and meet the ransom demand of the abductors or try to keep the police in the dark for the safety of their loved ones. If the police are involved in the search, at the outset they advise the family not to register a formal case. And even if the police are pressured, sometimes they simply register a case under the section of kidnapping rather than invoking the relevant law dealing with the ransom demand.Of the five kidnapping for ransom cases reported to the Rawalpindi district police so far this year, two of the victims were freed by the kidnappers only after their ransom demands were met by the families. However, the family of Iftikhar Afzal, 36, father of two and associated with a private housing society as an accountant, has been waiting for his safe recovery. After the passage of about two weeks, Iftikhar’s brother Shahzad Afzal has lost hope in the police to find a clue to his brother. He requested them to stop their search as it would endanger his brother’s life. When contacted by Dawn, Shahzad said: “Two days after my brother was kidnapped while going to his office from his Adiala Road house, we received a phone call from his kidnapper.”

The caller identified himself as a member of the TTP and informed the family that Iftikhar was in their captivity. He demanded Rs200 million for his safe release. However, negotiations continued with the captors and the ransom amount was reduced to Rs50 million.

Shahzad said: “Police performance has always been a question mark. And I have made it clear to the police that I cannot sacrifice my brother to any police adventure; therefore, let me do something for my brother myself.”

He added: “I want my loved one back at any cost. Since he has been kidnapped, my father has not taken anything properly and he is mentally disturbed. My mother is at the last stage of hepatitis C and is desperately waiting for her son,” Shahzad said.

Last year, 10 cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported to the police. Of them, two victims were shot dead by their captors even after their families had fulfilled their ransom demands.

One of the violent kidnapping for ransom cases was reported to the Chontra police on June 20 in which a landlord Abdul Rashid was killed after his family paid the ransom. In another similar case, young Rehman Ghani was murdered by his kidnappers after their ransom demand was met by the victim’s family.

The first kidnapping for ransom was reported to the Wah Cantonment police on January 31 by Khalid Masood. He said his brother Zahoor Ahmed, 45, was abducted by unidentified persons while he was returning home from his shop.

Though the abducted person was released by the kidnappers, the culprits are yet to be traced by the police.

When a vendor, Sheikh Zafar Iqbal, was kidnapped, his family paid Rs300,000 for his release. However, the five-member gang, including a woman, was arrested by the police and sent to jail and the ransom amount paid to them was also recovered as claimed by the police.

In the latest case, Hamza Riaz, 16, son of a local trader, was kidnapped from near his house in Satellite Town’s E-Block about a week back. He was released only after his parents paid Rs500,000 to the kidnappers.

Hamza was mentally disturbed when he was reunited with his family on Wednesday. He was not even able to disclose the place where he was detained.

If his few-worded statement is to be believed, the police had no role in his recovery as he was wondering along a roadside after being let free by his captors when he signaled a police patrolling van in Khayaban-i-Sir Syed.

He was shifted to the New Town police station and later reunited with his parents. “My son cannot remember where he had been detained by the kidnappers but he says whenever he got up to leave he was administered some tranquiliser,” said Mohammad Riaz, the father of the victim.

A senior police officer, who used to investigate kidnapping for ransom cases in the past, said there had been strong evidence that the ransom money obtained from the victims’ families was being used by terror groups who had their temporary hideouts in Attock and Taxila areas where they detained their victims for onwards shifting to the tribal areas.

He said there were three types of groups of kidnappers. The first is comprised those who had links with the TTP; the second group has been operating individually while the third one consisted of professional kidnappers.Critics say sometimes in kidnapping of ransom cases the victim’s family has to make all-out efforts, either by arranging the ransom money or convincing the police or helping them in rounding up the culprits.