Addressing a press briefing in Kabul on Saturday, the NDS chief said that 55 suspects have been arrested in with the kidnapping, reiterating that security forces are close to finding the place where the child is kept.
"Overall, there are 55 suspects who are nationals of Uzbekistan and from Tajikistan. Most of the arrests were made in Balkh and it continues," Saraj said.
Abdul Rauf was kidnapped four and a half months ago in Balkh province. Since then, his parents and relatives have always protested. At some stage, President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...threatened to fire security officials in Balkh if the child is not rescued, but no progress has been made in this respect so far.
Rauf’s father Mohammad Nabi said he has received a new video of his son from kidnappers, giving him a new deadline of five days to pay the ransom.
"The kidnappers warned to cut my child into pieces. My blood pressure went high, and I fell down," he said.
Rauf’s father said the kidnappers have asked for $1.2 million as ransom and has given him a five-day deadline otherwise they will increase the ransom to $2.2 million.
"If they don’t do mercy on us as parents, they should be afraid of God and do mercy on an innocent child," said Zohra, Abdul Rauf’s mother.
Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission called on the Afghan government to mobilize all its resources for a safe recovery of the abductee.
People across the country also criticized the government for failing to rescue the child in the past four months.
Abdul Rauf’s family and relatives have been protesting for the release of the child in front of office of Balkh governor for the past three months.
The protestors have called on the president to deliver on his promises about the release of the child.