NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD, 30 April 2006 — Taleban abducted an Indian engineer on Friday and threatened to kill him unless India withdrew all its workers from Afghanistan within 24 hours. The Indian, K. Suryanarayana, and his Afghan driver were kidnapped after gunmen stopped their car in the volatile southern province of Zabul.
Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, who releases regular statements on behalf of outlawed Taleban fighters, accused Suryanarayana of being an “American spy.”
“We warn all Indians working here to leave Afghanistan within 24 hours starting 6 p.m. (1330 GMT) Saturday otherwise we will kill him,” Ahmadi said by satellite telephone.
In New Delhi, the Indian External Affairs Ministry said it was sending a team of officials to Kabul to help secure the release of the man. The team included members with hostage negotiation skills.
But it said India was committed to maintaining a presence in Afghanistan to help work on economic development. India has close relations with Afghanistan and is involved in numerous aid and reconstruction projects.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said: “We are in touch with the Afghan authorities to ascertain whether this message is indeed from those who are responsible for the kidnapping of K. Suryanarayana.”
“Despite this message, we have intensified our efforts to seek the early and safe release of Suryanarayana so that he can be reunited with his family. Our Ambassador is in constant touch with the Afghan national security adviser and other senior officials as also the employers of Suryanarayana and with the telecom company whose project was being executed,” Saran said.
The foreign secretary ruled out withdrawal of Indian workers from Afghanistan. “Let me reiterate here that citizens of India who are working on various projects in Afghanistan are making a contribution to the much-needed economic recovery and reconstruction of a friendly country. Our presence in that country is to promote the welfare of the people of Afghanistan and the vast majority of the Afghan people have welcomed Indians working in their midst as their friends and well-wishers. We wish to assure the government and people of Afghanistan that India stands by them and will continue to fulfill its solemn commitments to Afghanistan’s development,” Saran added.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is kept posted of developments, Saran said.
India’s ambassador to Kabul, Rakesh Sood, said Suryanarayana, in his early 40s, had been employed in Afghanistan since January by a Bahrain-based company, Al-Moayed. The firm has been contracted by an Afghan mobile phone company, Roshan, to expand its mobile phone network across southern Afghanistan.
In Hyderabad, Suryanarayana’s relatives said they were devastated by the execution threat, which they learned of through media reports. “We are shocked to the core and don’t know what will happen next,” said his wife, K. Manjula.
Manjula, two daughters and a son and his aged parents are being consoled by relatives and friends who rushed to their house at Anandbagh on the outskirts of the city.
Also, a team of officials from the Ministry of External Affairs visited the home to assure the family that every effort is being made to get him released safely.
— Additional input from agencies
