Foreign hostages in Pakistan

Last updated

This is a list of known foreign hostages in Pakistan .

Contents

Foreign nationals have often been abducted by various militant groups who are involved in the current War in North-West Pakistan and are linked to terrorism in Pakistan. Most of these kidnappings have taken place in unstable parts of northwestern Pakistan and the western province of Balochistan, that are plagued by an insurgency. Eastern provinces particularly Sindh, especially the city of Karachi, have also witnessed large numbers of kidnappings due to conflict. Kidnappings are usually done by insurgent or terrorist groups mainly the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda but also various crime syndicates, especially in Karachi. [1]

Canada

Died (1)

  • Beverly Anne Giesbrecht , was a Canadian journalist, who was kidnapped along with her Pakistani translator, Salman Khan, and her Pakistani driver, Zar Muhammad, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border on November 11, 2008. [2] In late February 2009, a video surfaced of her, in between two men with rifles. [3] In March 2009, a video surfaced on which Giesbrecht could be heard stating that the Pakistani Taliban would behead her unless a ransom was paid. Muhammad was freed in June 2009. Khan was freed in July 2009. Giesbrecht died in captivity somewhere in Pakistan, due to hepatitis, in October 2010. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Killed (1)

  • Rajvinder Kaur Gill was a Canadian Sikh woman of Indian origin who had travelled to Pakistan to meet a prospective groom, in 2012. She had disappeared from Lahore, Pakistan. In 2017, a Pakistani court acquitted a man accused of her killing, due to lack of evidence. [8]

China

Rescued (1)

  • Unnamed Chinese Engineer: Two Chinese engineers working at the Gomal Zam Dam were kidnapped along with their Pakistani driver and Pakistani bodyguard in South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border on October 10, 2004. The driver and bodyguard were later released. Pakistani forces managed to rescue one of the engineers several days later but the other engineer was killed during the rescue attempt. [9] [10]

Killed (3)

  • Unnamed Chinese Engineer: Two Chinese engineers working at the Gomal Zam Dam were kidnapped along with their Pakistani driver and Pakistani bodyguard in South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border on October 10, 2004. The driver and bodyguard were later released. Pakistani forces managed to rescue one of the engineers several days later but the other engineer was killed during the rescue attempt. [9] [10]
  • Unnamed Chinese Teachers: Two Chinese language teachers, believed to be a couple, were kidnapped in Quetta by armed gunmen on May 24, 2017. A bystander who attempted to intervene was shot and wounded while rescuing a third person. On June 8, 2017, the Islamic State announced that they had killed the Chinese hostages and sent video to the phones of journalists working in Baluchistan, which showed two bodies shot and bleeding on some grassy ground. [11] [12]

Czech Republic

Released (2)

  • Hana Humpálová and Antonie Chrástecká, were two Czech travelers who were kidnapped near Pakistan's western border along with a Pakistani police officer on March 14, 2013. The officer was later released. Both women were on an overland trip from Europe to India. The kidnappers demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui. [13] Both Czech women were released in March 2015, following intense negotiations by a Turkish NGO IHH. [14] In February 2016, Czech President Milos Zeman confirmed that a $6 million ransom was paid for the women's release. [15]

Germany

Released (2)

  • Bernd Muehlenbeck, was an aid worker who worked for Welthungerhilfe alongside Giovanni Lo Porto who were both kidnapped on January 19, 2012, by al-Qaeda in Multan, in Punjab province. Muehlenbeck appeared in proof of life videos released just before Christmas 2012 and in February 2014. Muehlenbeck was freed from inside Afghanistan in October 2014. Lo Porto was killed in an American drone strike in January 2015. His body was recovered in August 2015. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
  • A German woman (name withheld), and a Swiss man were kidnapped on February 10, 2021, by a man identified as Rana Irfan. They were later released by him when he received a ransom of 10.5 Million PKR in Bitcoin, and then fled to Germany with the money. [21]

Italy

Killed (1)

  • Giovanni Lo Porto , was an aid worker who worked for Welthungerhilfe alongside Bernd Muehlenbeck who were both kidnapped on January 19, 2012, by al-Qaeda in Multan, in Punjab province. Muehlenbeck appeared in proof of life videos released just before Christmas 2012 and in February 2014. Muehlenbeck was freed from inside Afghanistan in October 2014. Lo Porto was accidentally killed in an American drone strike in January 2015. His body was recovered in August 2015. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Poland

Killed (1)

  • Piotr Stańczak , was a Polish engineer and geologist who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the city of Attock on September 28, 2008. The gunmen shot dead his Pakistani driver, Pakistani translator and Pakistani bodyguard with whom he was travelling in a car. [22] Stańczak was beheaded by militants on 7 February 2009, with a video of the execution released. His executioners said they murdered Stańczak because of the Pakistani government's failure to release Taliban prisoners. [23]

Switzerland

Escaped (2)

  • A Swiss tourist couple was abducted , while travelling in Balochistan on July 2, 2011. [24] The couple were seized by unidentified gunmen affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban in the Loralai District, which is some 150 km north of the provincial capital Quetta. The couple escaped in March 2012. [25]

Released (1)

  • A Swiss man (name withheld), and a German woman were kidnapped on February 10, 2021, by a man identified as Rana Irfan. They were later released by him when he received a ransom of 10.5 Million PKR in Bitcoin, and then fled to Germany with the money. [26]

United States

Released (1)

  • John Solecki , was an American official working for the UNHCR in Quetta when he was kidnapped by a Baloch terrorist group named Baluch Liberation United Front (BLUF) on February 2, 2009. His Pakistani driver was shot and later he died because of his injuries. [27] Solecki was released on April 4, 2009. [28] He was in the captivity of BLUF for a period of 61 days. [27] While he was in their captivity, BLUF had repeatedly threatened to behead him. [28]

Killed (2)

  • Daniel Pearl , was a Jewish American journalist was kidnapped in Karachi by a militant group on January 23, 2002. He was tortured and beheaded nine days later.
  • Warren Weinstein , was an American aid worker living in Lahore who was kidnapped from his residence by unknown gunmen on August 13, 2011. [29] In December 2011, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed to be holding him in FATA. [30] Weinstein was accidentally killed in an American drone strike in January 2015. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Sayyaf</span> Jihadist militant group in the southwestern Philippines

Abu Sayyaf, officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than five decades, Moro groups had been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group is considered violent and is responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group was derived from Arabic abu, and sayyaf. As of April 2023, the group was estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan</span> 1998–2015 Islamist militant group in Asia.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani; both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its original objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and create an Islamic state under Sharia; however, in subsequent years, it reinvented itself as an ally of Al-Qaeda. The group also maintained relations with Afghan Taliban in 1990s. However, later on, relations between the Afghan Taliban and the IMU started declining.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Marshall Johnson Jr.</span> American helicopter engineer (1955-2004)

Paul Marshall Johnson Jr. was an American helicopter engineer who lived in Saudi Arabia. In 2004, he was taken hostage by militants and his murder was recorded on video tape.

Members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages in Iraq beginning in April 2004. Since then, in a dramatic instance of Islamist kidnapping they have taken captive more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens of hostages were killed and others rescued or freed. In 2004, executions of captives were often filmed, and many were beheaded. However, the number of the recorded killings decreased significantly. Many hostages remain missing with no clue as to their whereabouts. The United States Department of State Hostage Working Group was organized by the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, in the summer of 2004 to monitor foreign hostages in Iraq.

JihadUnspun.com was a Canadian news website. It was launched on April 21, 2002, and had a stated aim to present uncensored reporting of the United States' "war on terrorism" on a global scale and reporting also news from several jihad groups. Its articles were often highly critical of American foreign policy and military interventions in especially Muslim countries. It was claimed by its critics to be a hate-ridden supremacist website.

Gabriele Torsello is an Italian freelance journalist and photojournalist based in London who was abducted in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on 12 October 2006. Kosovar businessman Behgjet Pacolli played a major role in negotiating Torsello's release on 3 November 2006. Torsello is a Muslim convert, and author of The Heart of Kashmir.

Daniele Mastrogiacomo is an Italian-Swiss journalist and a war correspondent for la Repubblica newspaper.

Events from the year 2007 in Afghanistan.

Sean Langan is a British journalist and documentary film-maker. Langan works in dangerous and volatile situations; including environments noted for war, conflict and civil unrest. In 2008 he was kidnapped along with his translator while filming in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. They were freed three months later after Langan's family had negotiated their release.

Kidnapping and hostage taking has become a common occurrence in Afghanistan following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Kidnappers include Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters and common criminal elements.

Tariq Azizuddin was Pakistan's ambassador to Turkey. He was ambassador to Afghanistan when he was taken hostage by terrorists from the Tehrik-i-Taliban on Monday February 11, 2008. Tariq was traveling, by road, from his home in Peshawar, to Afghanistan's nearby capital, Kabul. His vehicle was stopped by gunmen and he was taken hostage along with his driver Gul Nawaz and bodyguard Amir Sultan in Pakistan's Khyber Tribal Agency, prior to passing through the border crossing at Torkham.

Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, best known as Colonel Imam, was a one-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, and a former diplomat who served as the Consul-General of Pakistan at Herat, Afghanistan. He belonged to the Tarar Jatt Muslim family Amir Sultan Tarar was a Pakistan Army officer and special warfare operation specialist. He was a member of the SSG of the army, an intelligence officer of the ISI and served as Pakistani Consul General in Herat, Afghanistan. A veteran of the Soviet–Afghan War, he is widely believed to have played a key role in the formation of the Taliban, after having helped train the Afghan Mujahidin on behalf of the United States in the 1980s.

John Solecki was the head of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Solecki had been working in Balochistan to help the Afghan refugees, the communities hosting them and the local people affected by floods and earthquakes.

Piotr Stańczak was a Polish geologist who was abducted and beheaded by Islamist terrorists in Pakistan in February 2009.

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Islamist militant organization in Northwest Africa and the Sahel

Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization that aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state. To that end, it is currently engaged in an insurgency campaign in the Maghreb and Sahel regions.

2003 in Afghanistan. A list of notable incidents in Afghanistan during 2003

Warren Weinstein was an American contractor, and director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates, a firm which increases business competitiveness and growth in developing economies. He was kidnapped by eight al-Qaeda members on August 13, 2011, in Lahore, Pakistan. He was accidentally killed in a January 2015 US drone strike on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, as announced by U.S. President Barack Obama at a White House press conference on April 23, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State – Algeria Province</span> Algerian militant group active since 2014

The Islamic State – Algeria Province is a branch of the militant Islamist group Islamic State (IS), active in Algeria. The group was formerly known as Jund al-Khilafah fi Ard al-Jazair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Peshawar school massacre</span> Terrorist attack in Peshawar, Pakistan

On 16 December 2014, six gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The terrorists, all of whom were foreign nationals, comprising one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans, entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 149 people including 132 schoolchildren ranging between eight and eighteen years of age, making it the world's fifth deadliest school massacre. Pakistan launched a rescue operation undertaken by the Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG) special forces, who killed all six terrorists and rescued 960 people. In the long term, Pakistan established the National Action Plan to crack down on terrorism.

Giovanni Lo Porto was an Italian aid worker. In January 2012, he was abducted by militants while working in the Pakistani city of Multan, along with a German colleague, Bernd Muehlenbeck. Muehlenbeck was later freed inside Afghanistan. Lo Porto was accidentally killed in one of a series of unmanned aircraft strikes in Waziristan, Pakistan, along with American contractor Warren Weinstein, and American al Qaeda leaders Ahmed Farouq and Adam Gadahn.

References

  1. ↑ "New video shows Czech hostages in Pakistan in fragile state". The News. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ "B.C. journalist reveals details of abduction in hostage video | CBC News".
  4. ↑ "Abducted B.C. woman's friend fears worst | CBC News".
  5. ↑ "Death of Beverly Giesbrecht" . Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "Old friend gives up hope for captive Canadian in Pakistan - The Globe and Mail". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on 21 March 2011.
  7. ↑ "RCMP secretly ended probe into Canadian held by Taliban | CBC News".
  8. ↑ Mall, Rattan (11 December 2017). "Pakistani court acquits man of murder of Indo-Canadian Rajvinder Kaur Gill | Indo-Canadian Voice" . Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 "People's Daily Online -- Two Chinese engineers kidnapped in Pakistan". en.people.cn. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  10. 1 2 "People's Daily Online -- One Chinese hostage killed, one freed in Pakistan".
  11. ↑ "Two Chinese language teachers kidnapped in Pakistan". Reuters. 24 May 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "China, Pakistan investigate IS claim 2 Chinese were killed - ABC News". ABC News . Archived from the original on 9 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Two Czech women tourists kidnapped in western Pakistan | Aktuálně.cz". 14 March 2013.
  14. ↑ "Turkish charity rescues 2 Czech women taken by al-Qaeda in 2013".
  15. ↑ "|". www.ceskenoviny.cz. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  16. 1 2 3 "Obama: 2 hostages accidentally killed in drone strike". USA Today .
  17. 1 2 "Giovanni Lo Porto's friends break cover two years after his kidnap in Pakistan". TheGuardian.com . 26 December 2013.
  18. 1 2 "Welcome krmagazine.com - Justhost.com". www.krmagazine.com. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  19. 1 2 "Germany: Abducted Aid Worker Freed". The New York Times. 11 October 2014.
  20. 1 2 "U.S. Says Militants Demanded Ransom for Hostage Bodies in Pakistan - WSJ". Wall Street Journal. 21 August 2015.
  21. ↑ "SAMAA - Lahore man robs foreigners, escapes to Germany: police". 14 April 2021. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  22. ↑ "Pakistan Taleban 'kill hostage'". 8 February 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  23. ↑ Shah, Saeed (9 February 2009). "Polish man beheaded in Pakistani militant video". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  24. ↑ "Swiss couple kidnapped in south-west Pakistan". BBC News. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  25. ↑ "Swiss couple escape from Pakistan Taliban captivity". Reuters. 15 March 2012.
  26. ↑ "Lahore man robs foreigners, escapes to Germany: police". 3 March 2021.
  27. 1 2 "NJ MAN HELD CAPTIVE IN PAKISTAN SAYS 'IT'S GREAT TO BE FREE". New York Post. 8 April 2009.
  28. 1 2 "Captors free abducted UN official at the Afghan border". News 18. 5 April 2009.
  29. ↑ "US aid official kidnapped in Pakistan - Central & South Asia". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  30. ↑ AFP (December 2011). "Al Qaeda claims kidnapping of Weinstein in Pakistan – The Express Tribune". Tribune.com.pk. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.