The men were kidnapped while they were near Line of Control. PHOTO:EPA
They were plucking herbs near the Line of Control when they were kidnapped by Indian forces who entered the area.
The four men were identified as Zafran Ghulam Sarwar, Shazaman, Wajid Akbar and Mohammad Faisal.
Last week, unprovoked firing from the Indian side on the Line of Control (LoC) near Rawalkot had killed one Pakistani solider and critically injured another.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), there had been no evident reason for the firing.
Asim Iqbal, the soldier who had died due to the firing incident, was a resident of a village near Rawalpindi.
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They were plucking herbs in the dead of night! They must be looking for herbs that are only visible during the night by their night luminescence; but remain invisible during the day!! Go figure!!
Herb plucking on world's most dangerous border what good idea for make adventure by Pakistan occupied Kashmir people's. It's good idea to promote adventures tourism on Indo pak border by Pakistan . April fool day gone but Pakistani army celebrate it any time because there sense of humour so good . Herb plucking on border and kidnapping so good joke haaa.....
We would love to do that. But have you forgotton that our Western neighbour is a State Sponsored Non-State actors terrorist country.
@Anon: This region will be a better place if Indians could mind their own business.
@ET: Herb plucking: you really mean weed plucking, right?
Typical Indian move. Always target the weak and the unarmed. Then again, it is the same army which can not differentiate between drones and planets.
Pakistani people and media have the habit of making issues of unnecessary things. Such news are never published in Indian sites.
@Pakistani Ostrich: Maybe the herb pluckers were trying to jump over the LOC?
@LOL: Most likely they were planting mines
@Jat:
"Today I came to know of a new occupation, a new hobby or a new sport – “herb plucking”"
Herb plucking is neither a hobby. Nor a sport. It's an age old tradition of South Asia for making herbal medicine.
Indian urban youth should stay in Indian villages for at least a year in their lives to understand the world.
Our government should demand that the indians hand over the herb-pickers pronto! ET what's with the photo of a soldier jumping high in the air got to do with this incident?
Too many holes in the story;
men were picked up Sunday night men were plucking herbs.Plucking herbs in night ? Never heard of such activity unless they had night vision glasses. How come this incident is not reported in Indian media so far ?
Plucking herbs at the LOC. Aww what an interesting hobby. Perfect for Indo-Pak border..what next? flying kites into the Indian border?
So be ready for another #Mumbai drama where these kidnapped men would do "terrorism" and killed or tried without media access and Pakistan blamed. "shining India"
Today I came to know of a new occupation, a new hobby or a new sport - "herb plucking"
Wonder when it will be included in the Olympics; Pakistan is sure to win the first gold medal.
plucking herbs near LOC?????
This is what the LOC looks like from the Indian side.
http://m.outlookindia.com/story.aspx?sid=4&aid=222066
How do you get close to this while 'picking herbs'.
And how do the Indian soldiers get to the 'Herb Pickers'.
Something fishy going on.
Gosh, when will the Pakistani government wake up and and give a befitting reply to this Indian aggression? As if their continued brutalities was not enough in Indian-occupied Kashmir, now they have started targeting innocent people in Azad Kashmir.
This alleged kidnapping report is not given on any other news website. Secondly going by couple other news by the Web Desk of ET in recent times, they seem to be contradictory in too many places and sometimes too good to be true. I'm starting to doubt ET's people - they seem to be making up news out of nowhere to generate more traffic to their website.
When you have bizarre incidents like that, you can pretty much count on it being a one-sided report. The Indian Army is not perfect by any means but it is a disciplined force and under complete civilian control.
ET likes to keep the pot stirred for whatever reason.
The grass is truly greener on the other side, that is why they went there to pluck it.
Right. India's population is not high enough, so it kidnaps men who are just innocently going about their business, plucking herbs. And what is going to be done after the kidnapping, is the Indian government going to demand ransom from the families or the Pakistani government?
Clearly these guys must have been trying to cross the LOC to create fasaad and their plans were foiled. After the killing of police last month, it makes sense for Indian army o be on high alert on hhe LOC.
Army still searching similar peoples around 285 those are waiting near to border to cross indian territory.
Is someone there to give a befitting reply to these continuous Indian attacks? Someone from Govt. to at least condemn ?
please ask to have beheaded all terrorists.
indian army is great....
now they will be used in another mumbai mayhem or labelled as terrorist and killed ! Shinning India
On one hand India claim to have peaceful dialogue with Pakistan and on the other hand the firing incidents across the border and killing of Pakistan Army Jawans and kidnapping of Kashmiries does not prove that India is serious to have peaceful dialogue with Pakistan.
It is a established fact that India is an enemy of Pakistan and cannot become friend and good neighbor in another two centuries.
India has built a two layered fencing , at great cost of men and material ( pak army was against it ) along the LoC to keep intruders from PoK out. So this story makes little sense or is grossly incomplete.
Are they asking for ransom money to release them?