A citizen travelling from Islamabad to Thailand for work, Hamadur Rehman, has been abducted, according to his family’s application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

The family has asked the ministry for assistance.

They claimed that their son was being held near the Myanmar (Burma) border. The abducted individual’s father stated that the suspects had instructed the family to communicate via Telegram.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power from a democratically elected government in 2021, and mass protests evolved into widespread armed struggle.

The Rohingya have been long persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. More than 730,000 of them fled the country in 2017 after a military-led crackdown that the UN said was carried out with genocidal intent.

The father has called on the government to take “immediate action for the safe release” of his son, raising concerns about the safety of individuals seeking employment abroad.

Hamad’s father revealed that his son is being held in a location with other Pakistanis who are reportedly subjected to daily violence. He stated that the abductors are demanding a ransom of $50,000.

According to the father, Hamad was kidnapped from the airport. “I urge the government to take immediate action for his son’s release.”

In the face of an economic downturn and soaring inflation, many Pakistanis, especially youth, are seeking opportunities abroad for work and education.

Also, read this

Are young Pakistanis falling out of love with university degrees?

Majority of Pakistani youth don’t want to go abroad, finds survey

How to appear for a walk-in interview in Dubai from Pakistan

A media report last year reported that over 450,000 Pakistanis emigrated to various countries in the first quarter of 2023 alone.

The trend is evident at passport offices and immigration centres, where long lines of individuals applying for passports and visas have become commonplace.