Hopes rise for release of kidnapped boy in Pakistan

• Sahil Saeed, 5, was snatched in Pakistan while on a family visit with his father. His mother, Akila Naqqash made a plea to the kidnappers from the family home in Oldham. Pictures: PA

Last night the Foreign Office confirmed that a suspect had been held over the kidnap – after a 100,000 ransom was demanded for the safe return of the schoolboy from Oldham.

Sources in Pakistan claimed the authorities were confident the boy would be returned in 24 hours – as the boy's mother begged the kidnappers not to hurt him. Akila Naqqash, 31, said there was "no way" her family could afford the ransom on her son's head.

Speaking at her home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, Ms Naqqash paid tribute to her "really sweet boy".

She added: "We have got no idea why we were targeted, we don't have any money. There is no way we could raise that money, there is nothing we can do. I would say (to the kidnappers] just why? Why can't you just be a grown person?

"He is just a little boy. He is just five years old, he was due to come home today," she said. "Please don't hurt him."

Breaking down in tears, Ms Naqqash added: "He is just a really sweet little boy. He is really tiny, he would not harm anyone."

She told how her son had been due to fly home with his father yesterday.

Ms Naqqash added: "I phoned him every day of the last two weeks. When I last spoke to him he just said he couldn't wait to come home and have a jacket potato. He was fed up of the chapatis. He loves jacket potatoes with sweetcorn, cucumber, salad, he is a healthy little boy.

"He is always smiling, he has lots of friends. He is very popular at school, he loves his friends and his teachers and his school dinners.

"He was having such a good time out there. He was excited about going out there and seeing his grandmother."

The boy's father, Raja Naqqash Saeed said robbers armed with guns and hand grenades broke into the house in Jhelum, where he and his son were staying with the youngster's grandmother.

The boy's aunt, Amrana Iftikhar, called for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene.

She added: "I just can't imagine life without Sahil. We just want him home safely.

"I would say to the Prime Minister, 'Do as much as you can to get him back, because we need him home with us'."

Relatives said they were beaten, slapped and kicked by the robbers during a six-hour ordeal.

Sahil's father said: "They took me into the separate room and they tortured me. They said, 'We will take your son and you will have to pay 100,000'."

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Islamabad said the property had been broken into at 11pm local time. The robbers eventually fled with the boy and household items, believed to be jewellery and money.

Salma Jafar, the head of programmes for Save the Children UK in Pakistan, said: "Child kidnapping is a huge problem in Pakistan.

Kidnapping children for ransom is a growing phenomenon. The ransom amount depends on the family's financial situation. Sometimes, if they cannot pay the ransom that is demanded, it may be many months before they are reunited with their son or daughter."

A Foreign Office spokesman said last night: "Police in Pakistan have confirmed the arrest of one man in connection with the kidnapping and have detained him for questioning. Consular staff are in close contact with the investigating officer."

'Breakdown of law and order' sees rise in abductions

THE gang that snatched five-year-old Sahil Saeed could be linked to wider militant groups – with child kidnappings becoming a growing problem in Pakistan, experts said yesterday.

The abduction was symptomatic of the "extremely weak police force and the general breakdown of law and order in Punjab", said Farzana Shaikh, author of Making Friends With Pakistan.

Pakistan is among the top five most dangerous countries in the world for kidnap and ransom, with incidents in the "mid-to-high hundreds" each year, according to global security firm red24.

But Ms Shaikh said it was rare to see a Briton targeted. She said: "It is difficult to know whether it is just a criminal gang or wider militant groups, which are becoming more widespread and well established in Punjab.

"If it's the latter then it is a concern – if it is the former then it would raise fewer worries from a wider British perspective."

Punjab is a particularly dangerous area because of the spread of militancy since the 1990s, Ms Shaikh added.

"That militancy has spread out from the tribal regions to Punjab. This is well-documented.

"They have long been attached to the Punjab and some even have links with al-Qaeda.

"Unquestionably this will be of concern to police, especially considering the worrying indictment that members of the Punjabi government have been reluctant to renounce their contact with militant groups."

Lee Niblett, of red24, said Pakistani government statistics on kidnap were unreliable.

He said:

"Many incidents are not reported to the authorities for fear of retaliation by the kidnappers or of police corruption, collusion or ineptitude."