#4 Pak behind Kutty killing, say officials
Nilova Roy Chaudhury and Sutirtho Patranobis
New Delhi, November 23, 2005
The Taliban may have killed Maniappan Raman Kutty, a driver with the Border Roads Organisation, but they are believed to have acted at the behest of their Pakistani patrons. Over Indiaâs role in the construction of the Zaranj-Del Aram highway in Afghanistan.
A senior Afghan government official says, âIt was not to Pakistanâs liking that India was helping to construct this road (the Zaranj-Del Aram highway). Obviously, they would try to disrupt the project.â
Senior officials in Kabul and New Delhi even say this was the major reason why Kutty was kidnapped and subsequently killed. âThe Taliban has always been backed by Pakistan,â said an official. An analyst said: âThey wanted to send a message: that the road should not be built.â
The 218-km road from Del Aram to Zaranj will shorten the distance from Kabul to the port of Chah Bahar (Iran) and on to Central Asia by about 1,000 km. While facilitating Indiaâs access to Central Asia, the project will reduce Pakistanâs importance for both Afghanistan and India. Pakistan has the only available route for trade with the Gulf region and Central Asia.
Outraged by the "cowardly and brutal murder of a brave Indian", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday the act reflected the "cruel and inhuman character of the Taliban and the forces they represent". Kutty had "given his life as a soldier for peace", said the PM, adding that he was "deeply grieved and outraged" by the killing.
Later in the day, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Singh to condole Kutty's killing and assured him of enhanced security for all Indians working on projects in Afghanistan.
Rakesh Sood, India's ambassador to Afghanistan, told the Hindustan Times that Kutty's body will be sent back to India on Thursday.
There was speculation that, given the state of the body (Kutty was tortured, his throat slashed and he was "almost decapitated", an official said), his body might not be sent back to his native Kerala.
According to official sources in Afghanistan, villagers in Nimroz province recovered Kutty's body, half buried in sand, and informed authorities, as it was "not an Afghan-looking person".
Kutty, 36, had been in Afghanistan less than a fortnight. He was one of 290 Indians engaged in the construction of the highway project. Abducted on Saturday along with an Afghan worker and two security guards, Kutty was killed on Tuesday by the Taliban, who wanted work on the road project suspended. |
Afghan police yesterday found the decapitated body of an Indian man whom Taleban insurgents said they had kidnapped and executed, a provincial official said. The body of the engineer, who had been working on a road project, was found on a dirt road in the southern province of Nimroz, said Mohammad Hashim, a district chief in the province. âPolice have found the body of the Indian national and I can confirm that he has been killed,â Hashim said. The young man had been beheaded, according to Amanullah Khan, chief of highway police in the province. The head had been placed with the body and a note found, apparently written in English Khan said.