Unidentified men kidnap Sarabjit's lawyer Awais Sheikh in Pakistan

LAHORE: Awais Sheikh, the Pakistani lawyer of slain Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, and his son were kidnapped today by unidentified men from an area near the border with India, officials said.

Sheikh and his son Shahrukh had gone to a village in Burki Hudaira area this morning to buy land for a farmhouse.

Two men riding a motorcycle, who were reportedly wearing police uniforms, intercepted them, said Haroon, another son of Sheikh.

The lawyer and his son were bundled into a pick-up truck and taken to an unknown location, Haroon told the police.

Police launched a search operation to trace the two men. No one claimed responsibility for the abductions. Sheikh was the lawyer for Sarabjit, who died on May 2 after being comatose for nearly a week following a brutal assault by other prisoners in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Sheikh said recently that he had been receiving threats for defending Sarabjit, who was sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Pakistan's Punjab province in 1990.