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India-Pakistan
Swiss hostages arrive home after Pakistan escape
2012-03-18
[Dawn] A Swiss couple said to have beat feet after being held captive by the Pak Taliban for more than eight months arrived home Saturday, Switzerland's
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
foreign ministry said.

Policeman Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, were welcomed at Zurich airport by family and friends, the ministry said, adding that they were in good health under the circumstances.

They also met members of the government team that had worked for their release in the eight months since they were kidnapped at gunpoint on July 1 last year in Pakistain's southwestern province of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, apparently on holiday.

They were quoted as saying they were happy to be free again and back in Switzerland, after an ordeal during which they feared for their lives.

They said they had decided to try to escape, despite the risks, after thinking about it for a long time.

Pak officials said Thursday they were found at a checkpoint in the tribal belt, a Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold on the Afghan border, but exactly what happened was clouded in mystery.

Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter said in Bern on Thursday they had shown "great courage." He said no ransom was paid for the couple as Switzerland does not pay to free hostages.

The Pak Taliban had claimed the abduction, demanding that the hostages be exchanged for Aafia Siddiqui
...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her...
, a Pak neuroscientist placed in durance vile in 2010 in New York for the attempted murder of US government agents in Afghanistan.

A video emerged in October of the couple flanked by four masked gunnies pointing rifles at their heads.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, attracts few tourists because of separatist violence and Taliban activity.

Switzerland has advised against non-essential travel to Pakistain since 2008, citing risks including the threat of kidnapping.

Five foreigners remain kidnapped in Pakistain: an American, a Briton, a German, an Italian and a Kenyan, all aid and development workers.
Posted by:Fred

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