Pakistan Taliban: Swiss Tourists Held, Will Be Freed If U.S. Releases Aafia Siddiqui

By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD / AP

SHAWAL, Pakistan -- The Pakistani Taliban have custody of two kidnapped Swiss tourists and will free them if the U.S. releases a female Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill Americans, the No. 2 commander of the militant group told The Associated Press.

Gunmen abducted the man and woman as they traveled in the southwestern Baluchistan province earlier this month.

Authorities later said the two were taken to South Waziristan, a northwestern tribal region that borders Afghanistan and has been a hotbed of Pakistani Taliban activity for years.

Many locals and several foreigners have been kidnapped by militants in the border region over the past eight years. Some have been killed, while others have been released or their fate is unknown, often after ransoms have been paid.

The commander, Waliur Rehman, spoke to an AP reporter on Thursday in the Shawal area of South Waziristan. He said his group ordered the kidnapping in a bid to gain freedom for Aafia Siddiqui, a U.S.-educated neuroscience specialist and mother of three who is serving 86 years in an American jail for trying to shoot U.S. security officials in Afghanistan.

Rehman said that if Siddiqui is not freed, a Taliban court will decide their fate. He did not give any deadlines.

"We have not tortured this couple, and we have no such intention," he added.

Officials at the Swiss and U.S. embassies in Islamabad declined to comment Friday on Rehman's demand.

Siddiqui, who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, had been missing for five years before turning up in Afghanistan in 2008. Her case has become a cause celebre among Islamist and right-wingers in Pakistan.

Rehman's demand appeared to be aimed at getting support among the large numbers of Pakistani's sympathetic to Siddiqui's fate rather than a genuine condition for the couples' release.

The Pakistani army launched a major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan in 2009, but many militants still populate the area. The insurgent groups often kidnap people – most of them Pakistanis – as a means of exerting leverage on the state and gaining money through ransoms.

The kidnapping is the first such incident involving Swiss citizens in Pakistan, and authorities in Switzerland have set up a task force combining police and intelligence services to work on the case, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has said. The pair's identity has not been disclosed.

Comments

[Whistlejackett]

07:51 PM on 08/07/2011

The woman in the picture is dead.

[HaleemK]

02:30 PM on 07/30/2011

I think we should let the 2 tourists get more enjoy the rest of their stay there.

[toticalling]

06:43 AM on 07/30/2011

Such inhuman attitudes. Kidnapping innocent people for a person who has been rightly tried in US. Strange logic. it the very least it exposes the double standards that are commonplace in this unfortunate group of scoundrels that cries from morning to evening about Aafia Siddiqui’s verdict in New York. That daughter of the nation, who was married to not one but at least two different al Qaeda operatives and was directly linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, is somehow more deserving of their honor brigade’s sympathies than a woman who lost everything and then dedicated her life to improving the lot of women in her area. Indeed, they are more interested in saving the virtue of Muslim women in France who have only recently tasted the air of freedom.
On the other hand their supreme court of pakistan wants the President Zardari of pakistan to be tried in Switzerland.

[duxguts]

03:51 AM on 07/30/2011

I wouldn't go hiking in Texas let alone Afghanistan.

[madjanssen]

12:11 PM on 07/30/2011

Good point. I wonder why these people insist on going near these countries when they know the dangers lurking there. I mean they could still very well get into an accident hiking on a hill in their local neighbourhood but at least the chances are minimal compared to being mistreated in a country so infamous for their hostility towards foreigners.

[IvyRedhead Hoffart]

01:07 AM on 07/30/2011

Taliban logic is confusing.

[Horst]

08:05 AM on 07/30/2011

This is what happens when the 25% who are literate only read one book.

[HaleemK]

02:26 PM on 07/30/2011

Why is it confusing. It is very clear and simple, they follow their religion to the letter. It is only confusing for apologetics because it could only be described as barbaric.

[Progressive forever]

07:13 PM on 07/30/2011

Good point. There are many people who would rather not see the real issue. A modern secular society that has propelled humanity forward in the last 200 years has been completely absent from the Muslim dominated areas. The education system, the family teachings and the whole society is hell bent on keeping the power of religion intact. That is why you do not see any forceful action against these alleged "minority". The majority is too busy concocting excuses for their behavior.

[MIKEinNYC]

08:07 PM on 07/29/2011

As an ideology that seeks to impose itself upon others against their will, Radical Jihadist Islam is like the communism of our day.

[Yasser Yousufi]

12:17 AM on 07/30/2011

As an ideology that seeks to impose itself upon others against their will, White Christianity is like the communism of our day.

[MIKEinNYC]

08:02 AM on 07/30/2011

That was 1,300 years ago. The Christians have mellowed. Radical Jihadist Islamists have gone the other way.

[ArthroughpadNY]

05:53 PM on 07/29/2011

Now tell me again how much these people want to promote Islam in the west. They want everyone to be just like them and they want Islam to rule the world. No thanks, I'll pass. Seriously who would want to become just like them? No one with any brains.

[Des4truth]

08:52 PM on 07/29/2011

There is nothing wrong with being a Muslim. You cannot seriously place all people who practice Islam into the same category. Your comment reminds me of something Bush would say... Many people who do practice Islam are some of the most intelligent people in the world. I can say this, even not being Muslim myself.

[ArthroughpadNY]

09:49 PM on 07/29/2011

Again I am talking about these people want their form of Islam to rule the world yet they perform the most horrible crimes against humanity. If you like it, then join them. I'll thankfully pass.

[Jane Su]

09:50 PM on 07/29/2011

So does the koran say men and women are equal? Or does it say the woman have to submit to men? To cover from head to toe?

[ArthroughpadNY]

05:51 PM on 07/29/2011

That makes perfect sense to a Taliban, capture innocent tourists who have nothing to do with anything and use the tourist to free a terrorist. I say keep the terrorist and if the Taliban kill the tourists we go in with Seal team six and mop up the floor with them or execute Aafia if the tourists are not released in 24 hours. Either way she is as good as dead if the tourists are killed.

[Yasser Yousufi]

05:39 PM on 07/29/2011

As unfortunate as this incident is, it does bring to light the continued illegal incarceration of Dr. Afia Siddiqui in a mock trial by Kangaroo Court. The charges levied against her are laughable at best. Most neutral observers have already dismissed the trial as "grave miscarriage of justice"

Dr Afia a graduate of MIT and Brandies Universities with a Phd in Cognitive Neuroscience was kidnapped in Karachi in a joint operation by CIA, FBI and ISI along with her three children. She was one of the most high profile of CIA's secret rendition program at Bagram Airbase only known as prisoner 421. 5 years after her disappearence and as calls for her release were growing from the secret US prison she suddenly appears in Afghanistan with a story even the most lousy Hollywood director would reject. That this PhD from MIT was planning to lob bombs at the US base all on her own! Actually there is a whole series of clumsy claims and counter claims by the US authorities in trying to hide their crimes. Two of her children appeared after her arrest clearly traumtized. Her third infant child is now believed to have died some time during this ordeal.

The details of this case are quite big and not possible to cover in this small space. this counterpunch article sheds more light on her case http://counterpunch.org/brittain02142011.html

[ArthroughpadNY]

06:01 PM on 07/29/2011

Yes she is Miss innocent. Bullbleep. I don't care if she graduated from a public school, the point is intelligent people can kill. If it is a choice between this PHD or the CIA I would tend to believe the latter. You really have no clue as to the guilt of this person, and if the Taliban want her released that certainly shows who her friends are. With friends like these, we all know where she is coming from. You really do not know a thing about this case and if you think the claims are clumsy, many thing they are dead on.

[Yasser Yousufi]

06:07 PM on 07/29/2011

You obviously dont seem to care about facts! And CIA are just a bunch of shining angels who cant do no wrong. Yet they planned to kill its own citizens and and hijack american planes and bring them down in Atlantic Ocean (read Operation Northwoods). Frankly, youre just the kind of sheep CIA and FBI have milked for years killing innocents and toppling democratic governments~!

[mddunnington]

05:32 PM on 07/29/2011

These Muslims, Taliban, Hamas and anyone that is of Islam faith want to be in countries all around the world to spread the word of Islam and take over. But when people go into to their country your not welcome. So stay out, or get your head chopped off.

[mddunnington]

05:23 PM on 07/29/2011

What the heck are tourist going to these Muslim countries for. They are just asking to get killed..Stay out.

[landslowrance]

04:40 PM on 07/29/2011

Did this Swiss tourist couple ever read a newspaper and know that people were being kidnapped along the borders? You Can't Fix Stupid!!!

[Susan Shaffer]

05:20 PM on 07/29/2011

more interesting is that this is a semi autonomous region which means you actually have to get prior permission to go into this territory. ie a visa

[22Keys]

03:51 PM on 07/29/2011

Westerners should not visit these sordid lands for any reason. Only the most masochistic among our neighbors embark on such trips. Make no mistake, problems in these lands are not only a result of poor educational and socioeconomic conditions. There are simply strong, irreconcilabe differences that exist between Islam and the West. How many middle class engineers have to fly themselves into buildings before we get the idea that this is simply more than money or education. Dr. Siddiqui is alumn from MIT. Western wealth is seen as a gross perversity in Islam.

[Susan Shaffer]

05:24 PM on 07/29/2011

beg to differ
war lords extracted tolls to cross their territories in afghanistan before the taliban tried to put an end to it
Islam is not some monolithic concept. compare moslem indonesia with saudi arabia and afghanistan. Now think about any of the afghanis you may have met. I know one man who lived in kabul and escaped to mazar e sharif when the taliban came into town only to have to escape from mazar e sharif when the taliban came there too. he is now happily living in australia.

[22Keys]

06:38 PM on 07/29/2011

I am well aware that not all Muslims are violent (or advocate violence). Of course this should not distract us from the fact that certain ideas within Islam are less than good. Some of these ideas that come to mind are gender inequality and desire for the church to be the state. These are ideas are virtually universal within Islam.

[Ruby Tewsday]

03:49 PM on 07/29/2011

From some of the posted comments, I get the sense that people want to blame the Swiss for this situation. Whether they made a stupid vacation choice or not, the real criminals are the Taliban. Please don't forget that. Pray for the captives.

[Susan Shaffer]

05:25 PM on 07/29/2011

you can't just go to NWFP. North West Frontier Provence.
It is a semi autonomous region and you need prior permission to go there ie a visa

[dirteboy]

03:17 PM on 07/29/2011

"Swiss tourists", just strolling along, enjoying the peaceful beauty of Pakistan.
Uhhhhh,,,,,,sure.....
They could not be part of any intellegence gathering operation, because they did say they were "tourists", right?...
and they MUST be "Swiss" because they have Swiss passports, right?.......(wink wink)

[riddlingj]

07:50 AM on 07/31/2011

Well, would our government ....................LIe,to its own People?
I'm truly shocked,say it isnt so ,they would never do such a thing,
never never,for if they did how could we ever trust them?