The sudden death of a Pakistani-Canadian woman, Kafilia Siddiqui, while she was staying with Pakistani Minister of State Shahid Jamail Quareshi in Islamabad has become a big scandal with the Canadian government involving the Interpol in the case.
The Pakistani police has started an investigation against Quareshi, 40, and have said that the minister has resigned from his Cabinet position. However, the minister claims he's innocent.
Reports say the Pakistani police has confiscated a number of items from the minister's home after they searched the place for clues as to what actually happened. They have also interviewed a number of domestic servants who are working at Quareshi's home.
Siddiqui, 39, a business woman from Toronto, reportedly first met Quareshi, when he came to Toronto for an international business conference two years back. It was at that time, a report in the Toronto Star says, Quareshi asked Siddiqui to come work for him.
Another report says she went to Islamabad a few months back and was staying with Quareshi. The minister has been quoted in the Globe and Mail as saying that Siddiqui had been renting the lower floor of his home for several months.
He reportedly said she had gone on a starvation diet prior to her death three days back. She was only eating dates and drinking water. After reportedly searching Quareshi's place, police confirmed that Siddiqui's room was in the upper storey of the house where Quareshi resided.
"Only time will show that I have been falsely implicated in this case. I am innocent," he's quoted in published reports as saying.
Siddiqui's family members in Toronto claim that she was held against her will, an allegation that Quareshi has denied.
Her husband Suleman Qaiser, who has gone to Islamabad after he received the sad news of his wife's death, said his wife was not under his control.
"Suleman warned her many a times that he would divorce her if she did not leave the minister," Qaiser's cousin Fayaz Haider said.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs is reportedly in contact with Pakistani authorities in connection with this case.
Some reports reveal that Siddiqui left Toronto as she owed a lot of money to people here; the money she borrowed from friends and others for some of her failed business ventures.
She had started some airline business that didn't function. Some friends also say she moved to Pakistan as she wanted to start a communications business (Quareshi was minister for communications). The business reportedly involved cheap telephone calls to Pakistan.
Siddiqui was first reported missing in May by her husband who was concerned for her safety in Pakistan.
"We have had similar situations in the past where people have reported persons to us who have gone missing from other jurisdictions, including overseas locations," York Regional Police Chief Armand de Barge is quoted as saying.
"Given the circumstances, our district criminal investigation officers made contact with authorities in Islamabad through Interpol and we attempted to assist them regarding her whereabouts and whether she was safe or not," the police chief added.
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