Zardari sets deadline for police to find Juhi’s uncle

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari has given three days to law enforcement agencies in Karachi to recover his friend Satesh Anand, a Karachi-based film maker and distributor abducted last week. Satesh, uncle of Bollywood actor Juhi Chawla, was abducted when he was returning home in his car and there are fears he may already have been killed.

According to Karachi police sources, Zardari, through interior minister Rehman Malik, has warned the heads of the law enforcement agencies in the port city to recover Satesh alive in the next three days or get ready to face the music. Satesh is a former chairman of the Pakistan Film Censor Board, and a well-known figure in the world of television, newspapers and advertising.

Police circles say the incident cannot be termed “kidnapping for ransom”, as no one has demanded any ransom so far and militants might be involved in the kidnapping.

In a related development, the city’s Hindu community has expressed concerns, many of them saying that Satesh Anand was picked up only because of his religion.

The president of the Pakistan Hindu Council Ramesh Kumar has said that the kidnapping of Satish Anand was an appaling occurrence and the government should take stern steps to recover him as early as possible.

In a letter to the president, Ramesh has maintained that the Hindu film-maker might have been killed by some jehadi group in a bid to scare the Hindu community in Pakistan and force them to leave the country.