Police in Pakistan have arrested a man who allegedly held his wife and children captive at home and abused them for more than a decade.

His wife, a French national named Sylvie Yasmina, claims the man assaulted his family physically and mentally “on a daily basis” and described him as “very violent”, local police told BBC Urdu.

One of their sons managed to sneak out to make a police report, which led to a raid of their house in Bara, a remote town in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Police found Yasmina and her five children in a cramped and “extremely dilapidated room”, with bruises all over their bodies.

Yasmina and her children have been taken to a women’s shelter in Peshawar. They plan to move back to France, the police say.

According to Yasmina, 54, her husband had “effectively imprisoned” the family since they moved to Pakistan from Australia in 2014.

“According to the woman… She was not allowed to meet anyone, their two older children had missed their studies, while the three younger children were born in Pakistan and never enrolled in school,” a senior police officer told BBC Urdu.

Authorities have not identified Yasmina’s husband, a Pakistani national who they say was “residing illegally” in Australia when the couple met.

They married in 2003 and lived in Australia until 2014, when they moved to Pakistan with their two older children. Yasmina claims she has not had any communication with the outside world since then.

“We were deprived [of our] freedom, my husband didn’t take care of us the way he should as a husband and the father of my children. He beats us and put pressure on our lives on a daily basis,” Yasmina wrote in her statement to the police, parts of which have been published by local media.

“I felt that my future was already ruined, the future of the children would also be ruined.” (BBC)

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The government is hopeful of releasing soon another group of Sri Lankans who were trafficked for forced criminal activities in cyber scamming compounds in Myanmar, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya said. 

Speaking to Newswire, State Minister Balasuriya said measures are underway to release the group soon, revealing that 49 more Sri Lankans are still held captive at a camp in the Cyber Criminal area operated by a terrorist group in Myanmar.

The State Minister of Foreign Affairs added that negotiations are underway with the Governments of Myanmar and Thailand to facilitate the release of the group of Sri Lankans. 

State Minister Balasuriya further revealed that more Sri Lankans are continuing to fall victim to the racket, adding that reports have emerged of another Sri Lankan youth who had been employed via human traffickers. 

The State Minister requested the public to remain vigilant of such human trafficking rackets and to refrain from falling victim to such employment scams. 

In December last year, it was reported that a group of 56 Sri Lankans had been brought to Thailand for jobs related to the IT Industry and instead had been held captive at a camp in the Cyber Criminal area operated by a terrorist group in Myanmar.

Reports at the time revealed that the group of Sri Lankans were being subjected to inhumane treatment by the terrorist group, with the terrorists demanding up to US$ 8000 per person for their release. 

Following a discussion with the Myanmar authorities, the Embassy of Sri Lanka was able to last year rescue 32 Sri Lankans who were held captive.

Thereafter, discussions were underway between Sri Lankan and Myanmar authorities to rescue the remaining 56 Sri Lankans who were being held captive, out of which the authorities managed to rescue 08 Sri Lankans in April this year.

Currently, 49 Sri Lankans are being held captive at a camp in the Cyber Criminal area operated by a terrorist group in Myanmar, with the Sri Lankan government engaged in efforts to rescue them. (Newswire)

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