Mysterious kidnapping: Afghan mission official freed after two months

Afghan Taliban spokesperson denies group had a hand in the abduction of Hashim Popsal Ebrat.

ISLAMABAD:

An Afghan Consulate official kidnapped from Quetta nearly two months ago, has been freed, diplomatic sources said on Saturday. “I can confirm that the Quetta consulate official has been released,” an Islamabad-based diplomatic source told The Express Tribune.

However, he declined further comment on the matter. “Officials in Kabul are likely to disclose the details.”

Hashim Popsal Ebrat, a staffer of the Afghan Consulate, had been missing since July 25. No group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Ebrat’s family sources and Afghan officials had earlier claimed that the captors had demanded release of some Taliban figures from Kandahar jail.

The Afghan Taliban had denied any involvement in the kidnap. “As a policy, we do not operate outside the Afghan borders and the impression that the captors had demanded freedom of some Taliban prisoners in exchange for his (Ebrat) release is baseless,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told The Express Tribune by phone.

The Afghan Consulate officials in Quetta also refused to give details as to who had kidnapped Ebrat and on what conditions he had been freed.

In late July Ebrat’s son Siddiqullah had informed the Quetta police that the family had no information about Ebrat.

The Afghan Embassy spokesman, Zardasht Shams, said in July that the Afghan embassy and the consulate had approached the Pakistan government and the Afghan Consulate in Quetta and had sought their help for Ebrat’s recovery.

Abdul Khaliq Farahi, a former Afghan counsel general in Peshawar, was kidnapped by militants in 2008 and was released in November 2010. A militant group known as Kateeba Salahuddin Ayubi had claimed responsibility for his kidnapping from the posh Hyatabad area of Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2013.