Five armed men held a family hostage in a house in Islamabad and subjected them to severe beating before making off with cash and other valuables, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.

A woman, with whom the incident took place, said that she, along with her family, which included her parents, a sister, brothers, husband and three minor kids, was robbed of a huge amount of cash and other valuables at gunpoint in her house in F11/1, Street 75, Islamabad the other night.

“The agony of coming to a damning realisation of becoming an orphan at any moment, and being held at gunpoint for 45 minutes straight, is parallel to no universal human torture method ever conceived by the mankind either in real life or at Hollywood,” she said.

“I’ve never encountered such ruthless people in life who had the audacity to keep bullying/ harassing/ slapping us for an hour and torture my dad to the point that half of his face was covered with blood,” she added.

“These robbers are inhumane. Please watch out. Islamabad is unsafe. We had been a victim of ‘secret information’ with Standard Chartered bank F11 & Sadiq exchange; Western Union F11 Markaz,” she claimed.

“These Afghans stayed in our house for one hour and 10 minutes. The event that took place in my house was quite uncomfortable and upsetting which left us traumatized,” she claimed further.

“They took dollars, Saudi Riyals, Euros and Pakistani rupees along with gold, mobile phones, an applied for brand new Honda City car and other valuables,” she stated.

“After keeping us hostage in a room, first thing they asked for was dollar currency. They did not leave until they finally got hands on them. They hit my dad and sister with revolver magazine/grip multiple times. My dad’s eye was bleeding heavily, and he barely saved his eye from losing sight. There was a time where I was beaten with guns by all five robbers twice.”

She advised the people:

* to make sure one doesn’t have such currencies with them while going to Western Unions (money exchangers) & don’t keep them at home too.

* At every chowk which connects to the Markaz, you will see multiple bikers sitting with hand-free & keeping an eye on everyone passing by, YES! they’re part of it.

* Never keep your valuables in wardrobe drawers instead keep them in kitchen or somewhere far from rooms. 

* Get a licensed weapon at home. 

* I also feel it is high time to start a neighbourhood watch group/ security guards to make our area more secure.

* Install security cameras in your premises & make sure they’re recording. Have a good back up. My street has 10+ cameras but none of the cameras had recordings.

* No matter how good your door locks are, they’re nothing in front of them.

* NEVER CALL 15, while robbers are inside your premises. Instead call someone from neighbour or one who you know will answer your call & knows your address well. Request them to inform police. Keep away from phone.

She said that a small piece of the grill of her house was cut. One of the intruders entered the house, and he opened the main door for the four others.

Please watch out, Islamabad is unsafe.