He will soon have the kidnappers eating out of his hand and probably applying for a small business grant.
BANGKOK: This is with reference to Michael Kugelman’s article of August 16 titled “We are not all CIA agents”. I know Mr Warren Weinstein very well, having worked with a Pakistani agency, the Competitiveness Support Fund, for three years up to 2009.
To suggest he is a CIA agent is ludicrous. He always had a high profile and was extremely communicative (talking incessantly on three phones to all his many contacts) and devoted to his projects for JE Austin — a Washington-based USAID contractor.
Warren was instrumental in putting together Dairy Pakistan, a major initiative to assist poor farmers, and he was a fanatic about the marble industry; considering he worked 18 hour days on development, I doubt he had much time left over for more nefarious activities.
Once again, a very small minority of Pakistanis have done their countrymen a considerable disservice. But if I know Warren, he will soon have the kidnappers eating out of his hand and probably applying for a small business grant. Release him!
Geoffrey Quartermaine Bastin
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2011.
