Khalil Dale: MURDER OF ICRC MANAGER

The ICRC Programme Manager was found murdered in Quetta. The Tehrik Taliban Pakistan claimed the responsibility of taking the IRCR Manager hostage from Quetta. He was taken to Waziristan where he was kept hostage for several months. It is strange that the kidnappers had managed to take the hostage from Quetta to Waziristan and there was no check on the way to intercept them by the security forces, including Levies. Earlier, BRSP people were also kidnapped and taken to Waziristan where one of the hostages was killed because his poor family could not pay ransom money. Four other BRSP men are still hostage in Waziristan. The Swiss Couple had also been kidnapped from Loralai when they crossed to Balochistan from Dera Ghazi Khan. They too were taken to Waziristan. However, the Swiss couple was released following a deal with the kidnappers. According to former Vice Chancellor of the Peshawar University who is still in custody of kidnappers, the Government had paid the ransom money and also released hundred or more Taliban from custody. However, the brutal murder of ICRC Manager is a most serious crime as the British national served the ailing humanity in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world. The British Foreign Secretary condemned the murder of British national in custody. Naturally, the British Government will raise eye brows over the kidnapping of British national and the Government made no effort to save the life of the kidnapped ICRC Manager. The kidnapping and murder in custody had sent a serious signal to the international organizations to close their operations in protest and leave the people of Balochistan at the mercy of terrorists and armed gangs involved in kidnapping for ransom. The BRSP men were also taken hostage as they too served the flood affected people with dedication and helped the international organizations to provide relief to the flood affected people of Balochistan. Presumably for this role of BRSP, it was made the target and its staffers were taken hostage in Barshore area of Pishin District. It seems that the establishment had given a licence to the armed gangs to kidnap people at whims and decided not to chase them or bring them to justice. The international community must be offended over the hostage taking and murder in custody of ICRC man in Balochistan and they are likely to put more pressure on Pakistan to intensify its war against the terrorists and eliminate all the trouble makers from the Pakistani soil before they inflict serious damage to national security and integrity.