A BLACKBURN man whose pregnant daughter is being held in Pakistan on suspicion of murder has insisted she is a ‘peaceful mother’ who is ‘completely innocent’.

Mohammed Niwaz said his three young grandchildren were also in a Pakistani jail with their mother, Irfana Ali.

Speaking for the first time about the case, Mr Niwaz, a taxi driver, of Grindleton Street, pleaded with the British authorities to bring them home.

Mrs Ali, 27, is accused along with her husband, Malik Mohammed Ali, of killing Mr Ali’s 10-year-old half-brother in a dispute over their father’s inheritance.

The housewife and former student at the Noorul Islam mosque, in Audley Range, is five months’ pregnant with her fourth child, her father told the Lancashire Telegraph.

Mr Niwaz, 56, said: “They had gone to Pakistan on holiday and they were due to come back on Monday. It’s terrible. She is not well. She is a young woman and she is frightened.”

Police in the Jhelum area of Pakistan were reported to have told a press conference that the couple had confessed to killing 10-year-old Daniyal around two weeks ago.

The child was said to have been kidnapped from a mosque, hanged and had his head smashed by a stone.

Mr Niwaz, who has two other children, said his daughter had been threatened by police, and could not have been involved as she was looking after her three daughters, aged five, three and two at the time.

He said: “She was with her family when it happened.

“How could she leave her three children? I have told the authorities in Pakistan that she is suffering, and she has done nothing.

"She went on holiday, not to kill someone. She is not like that. She’s a very nice girl who has never hurt anyone.

"If someone has murdered someone they should be punished, but my daughter was not involved.”

Mr Niwaz said he was trying to borrow money to send to his daughter, who was relying on relatives to bring her food in jail in Jhelum.

He also hit out at the ‘insults’ being spread around the community about his daughter, adding: “People are being told the wrong story. It’s terrible.”

Mrs Ali was born in Denmark, and lived in Grindleton Street for more than 20 years, before moving to Milton Keynes after getting married.

The couple, British nationals, are being helped by British Embassy officials.

But Mr Niwaz said little progress was being made and plans to involve Blackburn MP and ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Comments unavailable on this story for legal reasons.