JUSTICE Secretary Jack Straw is being urged to put pressure on the Pakistani authorities over the kidnapping of a five-year-old British boy.

Former Blackburn with Darwen councillor Hussain Akhtar has called on Mr Straw to intervene in the case of Sahil Saeed, from Oldham, who was snatched last Thursday in the city of Jhelum.

Hundreds of people from Blackburn, Burnley and Nelson have family in the Jhelum area and Mr Akhtar, a community worker, believes every avenue should be taken in the fight to secure the boy’s safe return.

Mr Akhtar, who used to represent Blackburn’s Shear Brow ward, said: “I know that in Pakistan the prime minister and the interior minister are doing everything that they can, and there have been telephone calls to the boy’s father.

"But he is only five and I am asking Mr Straw to come forward and help, through the Foreign Office.

“We should not wait a moment longer because it has been more than five days now.

"There are lots of citizens around here who have relatives in Jhelum.”

The boy was taken from his grandmother’s house in the city, while he was on holiday with his father, Raja Naqqash Saeed, and a £100,000 ransom has been demanded by his abductors.