{"id":4579,"date":"2010-03-16T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-16T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2010\/03\/16\/sahil-in-good-spirits-after-kidnap-ordeal\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T12:34:02","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T12:34:02","slug":"sahil-in-good-spirits-after-kidnap-ordeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2010\/03\/16\/sahil-in-good-spirits-after-kidnap-ordeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahil in \u2018good spirits\u2019 after kidnap ordeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Family in Oldham wait for return of five-year-old <\/h3>\n
\"\"BRITISH Consul officials looking after Sahil Saeed have revealed he is in \u201cgood spirits\u201d as he recovers from his kidnapping ordeal.<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The five-year-old was found in Pakistan today nearly two weeks after he was snatched at gunpoint from his grandmother\u2019s home in Jhelum, Punjab on 3 March. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The youngster was in Pakistan with his father and due to fly back to his home in Oldham just hours before he was taken. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

His mother, Akila Naqqash, said she was \u201cecstatic\u201d at news of his release and is anxiously waiting for Sahil to return home. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson said it was \u201ctop priority\u201d for the High Commission to \u201censure he is reunited with his parents as soon as possible.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough a little tired, Sahil has been in good spirits. He has also spoken to his mum and dad on the telephone this morning,\u201d Mr Thompson said. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe top priority for the High Commission now is to ensure he is reunited with his parents as soon as possible and to help with his return to the UK. Sahil is in the care of the Pakistani authorities and his uncle.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In Oldham, Sahil\u2019s family rejoiced as news of his release filtered through. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Speaking to the BBC his mother Akila said she doubted news of her son\u2019s release after similar reports last week turned out to be false. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first we thought it wasn\u2019t true because we\u2019ve had a couple of false reports that he had been found last week but we\u2019ve had numerous phone calls to say he had been found and news reports on the television confirming the news,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Close to tears she said she was \u201cgobsmacked\u201d when she heard Sahil\u2019s voice on the phone. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been held for 13 days and the way he spoke to me was like nothing happened – he was normal,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was going on and on and on about his toys. He was telling us he was missing his sisters, that he can\u2019t wait to come back and he was really really happy.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Dave Thompson, Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable, said the boy was released in Kharian City, Punjab, this morning. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“He was released nearby to a school, alone, wandered into a local field and was found by some local residents who looked after him until such time his family found him with the police,” he said. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr Thompson added: “This remains a fast-moving international inquiry. It is led in Pakistan but over the last 12 days there has been considerable support delivered by the Greater Manchester Police to support the safe return of this young boy. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

“This still remains a very active criminal investigation and Greater Manchester Police and the Pakistani authorities are still determined to bring people to justice and that will be a high priority in the coming hours, days and weeks.” <\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Family in Oldham wait for return of five-year-old BRITISH Consul officials looking after Sahil Saeed have revealed he is in \u201cgood spirits\u201d as he recovers from his kidnapping ordeal. The five-year-old was found in Pakistan today nearly two weeks after he was snatched at gunpoint from his grandmother\u2019s home in Jhelum, Punjab on 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}