Pakistan’s ambassador to Netherland’s former assistant Khair Muhammad Tunio on Monday appealed to the Government of Pakistan, Human Rights Organizations and Amnesty International for recovery of his two children who were allegedly taken into protective custody by the Dutch child protection authorities amid claims of parent’s neglect and psychological disorder.
Reportedly, Tunio, who was appointed for the job in 1989, quit the job and sought political asylum in Netherlands when tensions between him and other officials rose in 2015.
The Tunio family returned to Pakistan this year on May 22 after being harassed by Dutch police and other authorities.
Tunio told the media that his family was being subjected to inhuman psychological torture by the Dutch authorities, and consequently in September 2017, his two children 14-year-old Rabia Mehak and 16-year-old Muhammad Sanaullah were seized by the Dutch child protection authorities on false grounds that ‘he was a threat to them’.
Besides, he said that he was detained in GGZE (Dutch Association of Mental Health and Addiction Care) where he was subjected to mental torture for two months.
The children’s mother said that she had appealed the authorities to release her children as their father was in the hospital, but they refused.
“Despite a Dutch court’s permission, I was not allowed to see my children or contact them,” she said, adding that the Dutch child protection authorities had committed sheer violations of human rights.
Tunio said that his wife was asked to file for divorce from him as a precondition for meeting her children, but she refused.
He further said that his daughter was admitted to the GGZE by the child protection authorities for torturing her when she objected to them for meeting her parents on December 28, 2017.
“We asked details from the Dutch child protection authorities regarding Rabia’s treatment, but they refused to inform us,” she said, adding that the health condition of their children was deteriorating and under the Dutch law, minor child could not be admitted in any mental hospital without a prior permission from guardians or parents.
Meanwhile, Tunio and his wife said that their children’s lives were in danger and appealed for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s support in recovery of their children from the custody of the Dutch child protection authorities.
Published in Daily Times, September 4th 2018.
