Girl abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan is reunited with her mother

The mother of a six-year-old girl, who was abducted and taken by her father from the UK to Pakistan, said on Friday that she was "overwhelmed" after being reunited with her daughter.     

Atiya Anjum-Wilkinson disappeared in November 2009, after being taken from her home in Greater Manchester, north-west England, by her father Razwan Ali Anjum.    

He said he was taking his daughter to a local area, but instead took her to Lahore.   

Three years on, the youngster was finally tracked down in Pakistan earlier this month, after her mother Gemma Wilkinson made several appeals for information.  

She was flown from Islamabad to Manchester airport on Friday.    

"I'm just absolutely overwhelmed in seeing Atiya now and giving her a cuddle and a massive kiss. I'm just absolutely overwhelmed with everything," said Gemma Wilkinson.  

"I did have a few fears that Atiya would be unsettled with the change and the flight and she's absolutely fine," she continued.        

"She's trying to communicate and she's playing with the things that we've brought for her and she's settled."      

Anjum is currently serving a jail sentence in the UK for refusing to reveal Atiya's whereabouts.       

Conservative Member of the European Parliament for North West England, Sajjad Karim, who helped with the search for Atiya, told Britain's Sky News that he wished he had made aware of the case sooner.  

"One of the big personal regrets that I have about this case is that I wish I had known three-and-a-half years ago because there is nothing that I have done now that I couldn't have done three-and-a-half years ago," he said.

"I believe had we taken these actions at that stage, a lot of heartache for mother could have been avoided."  Sky News reported that the abduction of children to Pakistan was not uncommon. 

Safraz Khan's daughter Aamina was taken by her mother to the country last year, the broadcaster said. He said after three years of trying to find her child,  Gemma Wilkinson, Atiya's mother, was likely to be feeling overwhelmed.     

"Just hearing that news today, it just sent shivers down my own spine. I just couldn't believe that this one child has actually been recovered from Pakistan," he said.


APTN