MIRAMSHAH/RAWALPINDI: A Swiss couple kidnapped from Balochistan in July last year escaped from Taliban captivity in North Waziristan, officials said on Thursday.
Olivier David Och and Daniela Widmer were brought to Peshawar by a military helicopter. They were taken to the Corps Headquarters for questioning. They stayed there for some time before leaving for Islamabad.
Officials said that the couple had reported to security forces at the Thall checkpost on Esha-Razmak Road early in the morning. Sources said they had been left at a place some 100 metres from the checkpost.
The sources were not in a position to state with certainty if the couple had really escaped or they had been ‘released’. And if released then on what ground.
The banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had claimed responsibility for their kidnapping from Loralai, were quiet.
Military officials quoted the Swiss nationals as saying that they had escaped late in the night and reached the checkpost in the Spilga area, about 12 km south of Miramshah.
The couple’s claim and the official version could not be verified from independent sources who said that back-channel negotiations had taken place for securing their release.
According to military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the couple stated that they had escaped from the kidnappers.
Prof Ajmal Khan, the kidnapped vice-chancellor of Peshawar’s Islamia College University, indicated in a video released by his captors on March 7 that the government and the TTP had reached a deal for release of the Swiss couple.
Prof Khan, who has been in the Taliban captivity for 18 months, said in the video message that the government had agreed to release 100 imprisoned Taliban in exchange of the Swiss couple’s release. Besides, he said, millions of rupees would be paid as ransom.
Having reached Rawalpindi, the couple appeared to be in good health. They were smiling and waving to photographers as they walked through the airbase where the helicopter had landed.
David Och was sporting a beard and wearing Shalwar-Kameez, white cap and joggers. Daniela Widmer was in a light pink shirt and black trousers with a scarf around her neck.
After disembarking from the helicopter, they got into a blue van waiting for them at the Qasim airbase. Swiss embassy officials and security personnel accompanied them when they left for Islamabad.
AFP adds: Officials said they were found at a checkpost in the tribal belt on the Afghan border, but the nature of their release was clouded in mystery and there were claims that they escaped.
They were seen by journalists for the first time at the Qasim airbase in Rawalpindi where they were not permitted to speak.
Both stepped into a minibus and witnesses later told AFP they were driven away from the airbase with embassy officials.
“They are safe and sound,” Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. “They told us that they escaped and then they reported to our checkpost.
That’s what they told intelligence agencies currently debriefing them.”
The details surrounding the couple’s recovery were unclear and senior Taliban commanders could not be reached.
“The Swiss ambassador to Pakistan is in direct contact with them and was satisfied they were not injured and that their health, given the circumstances, is good,” the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement.
The couple were in a safe place and their return to Switzerland was planned as soon as possible, it said.
Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter thanked the Pakistani authorities “for their commitment and support in this matter”, the ministry said.
In October, a video emerged of the couple – apparently in relatively good health – flanked by four masked gunmen pointing rifles at their heads.
Wali-ur Rehman, deputy head of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan that is linked to Al Qaeda, had claimed the kidnapping, telling AFP in July that they were in “a very safe place” and that they were “completely in good health”.
According to visas stamped in their passports, the couple arrived in Pakistan from India on June 28.
They entered Balochistan from Punjab and may have been heading for Quetta, possibly en route to Iran, officials in Islamabad have said.
Their blue Volkswagen van was found abandoned in Loralai district.
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