ISLAMABAD: A man and his two daughters in Pakistan were kept confined for the last 15 years by none other than the man's son -- and they survived on tree leaves and water mixed with chilly powder, locals and the police said.
The media reported on Sunday that the police liberated the detainees on Saturday after a tip off from some residents.
Since the three didn't seem to be mentally healthy, they were taken to a psychiatric hospital soon after they were released from a house, which used to be locked from outside, Dawn newspaper said.
The police carried out the operation in Saidpur area in Lahore under the supervision of four coordinators of the Punjab chief minister's inspection team and two MPs.
It was reportedly conducted on the information of some local residents who contacted the officials and the media.
The victims were identified as Babu Nazir Ahmed, a retired government employee and his two daughters - Riffat, 35, and Nighat, 27 - who were present in the house which was reportedly locked from outside by their brother Qaiser Mehmood.
An official who accompanied the rescue team told reporters that the three victims were in confinement for the last 15 years.
Qaiser, also a former government employee, used to torture them mentally besides preventing them from leaving the house, said the official quoting neighbours.
They further alleged that the accused gave the detainees tree leaves to eat and water mixed with chilly powder to drink.
However, Sharifan Bibi, who introduced herself as a paternal aunt of the girls, told Dawn that the accused had not confined them.
His only sin, according to her, was that he neither married himself nor managed the marriages of his sisters.
“Qaiser was stern and stubborn and always dominated his family but he never confined his sisters and father,” she claimed.
The door of the house was kept locked from the outside and the police and Rescue 1122 personnel entered the house by scaling the outer walls.
An official said Qaisar apparently wanted to grab the house, the only property of the family.
The two sisters, who were rescued along with their father, were in a state of shock and were staring aimlessly, the newspaper said.
Dressed in stinking clothes, they were unable to speak to the media and para-medical staff apparently owing to their poor state of mind. However, their father Nazir disclosed the names and ages of his daughters and son.
