SA officials to get involved after family fear for student in Pakistan

The distraught family of the Nelson Mandela University student – who believe the 19-year-old is being kept against her will in Pakistan – have been given a glimmer of hope with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation promising to look into the matter.

Shanaaz Jacobs left the country in January, without telling her parents.

Her mother, Desiree Hill, 39, of Uitenhage, said she fears her daughter is being prevented by her Pakistani boyfriend, Warqas Khan, from coming home.

In one of the last messages Jacobs sent her mother, she appeared to warn her family not to go near her boyfriend’s brother, who is still in the country.

“If you do something to [my boyfriend’s brother], then I promise you will never see me again,” Jacobs said in a WhatsApp message dated March 28.

Khan left for Pakistan late last year. Jacobs had met him while she worked at his brother’s store in Uitenhage.

According to Hill, Khan sent Jacobs more than R20 000 to join him in Pakistan, for what was apparently meant to be a two-month stay.

Hill said she fears Jacobs is being kept against her will in Pakistan as it has been more than a month since she was meant to have been back in the country.

What made things worse, Hill said, was that she had no contact with her daughter after all of the family’s cellphone numbers were blocked on the messaging service, WhatsApp.

“I got back from work and was told she was gone,” Hill said.

“Just like that. And the last time we chatted [via WhatsApp] was on March 28.”

Prior to that date, Jacobs had sent her mother several messages, including pictures, voice notes and videos.

One of the pictures was that of her bloodied arm.

“She said she had hurt herself,” Hill said.

“But I don’t believe she would do something like that to herself. I’m convinced she’s being prevented from coming back home.

“She sent us the voice note where she warned us not to go to her boyfriend’s brother because it’s going to make things worse for her in Pakistan.”

In the voice note, Jacobs can be heard cautioning her parents.

“Listen Mommy and Daddy. Listen to me, if you do something to Wes [Khan’s brother], then I promise you, you will never see me again.”

Prior to blocking her mother’s number, Jacobs had also sent a video insisting she was well.

“But my child is not happy there. I promise you, if she had known that man would not send her back home, she’d have never gone.

“And she looks scared [in the video] because she does not have family or friends in Pakistan. So she has to do what they tell her to do.”

International Relations spokesman Ndivhuwo Mabaya said officials from the department would contact the family.

Meanwhile, Visa consultant Lisa Felix confirmed she had, in December, helped Jacobs with her application.

“We have contacted the Pakistan High Commission in Pretoria and they have advised us that the parents should go there in person, along with a letter stating exactly what happened,” Felix said.

“When you plan to go visit someone overseas, one of the rules is that they [the person being visited] need to give you an invitation letter. So the embassy will have the gentleman’s details.”

On her application for a tourist visa, Jacobs listed “to meet my friend and his family and to see the beautiful and historical places of Pakistan” as the purpose of the visit.

Calls to Jacobs’s phone went to voicemail and she did not respond to text or WhatsApp messages this week.