Abducted abroad: Two Pakistani engineers freed in Afghanistan

Provincial police chief says Taliban were not behind the abduction

ISLAMABAD: Officials in Afghanistan announced on Friday the recovery of two Pakistani engineers who were kidnapped in northern Afghanistan last month. The two engineers were working for a construction company in Jawzjan province.

Unidentified gunmen had kidnapped them on September 7 from the Dasht-e-Laila on the Shiberghan highway along with their driver — who was later killed.

Provincial police chief Faqir Muhammad Jawzjani said elders and influential personalities played a vital role in securing their release on Thursday.

Jawzjani told Azadi Radio that a group of kidnappers and not the Taliban was involved in the abduction, citing an investigation report. Police commander (operations) Col Abdul Manan Raufi said the engineers have reached a police post in the Dasht-e-Laila area and would soon be shifted to the provincial capital Shiberghan, Pajhwok news agency reported.

Jawzjani says the construction company was run by three partners who had differences and the kidnapping could be linked to the dispute among the three partners.

Freed engineer, Gul Zareen, said that he was held blindfolded and chained for 33 days and that he and his colleague were subjected to inhuman treatment.

“The captors were young men and kept asking for ransom money repeatedly during our captivity. On few occasions they also threatened to kill us,” Zareen told reporters.

He said the captors set them free and handed them over to a nearby check post late on Thursday.

Some Afghan officials had earlier claimed that the Taliban had abducted the Pakistani engineers; however, later they said another militant group was behind the kidnapping.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2014.