5 Bangladeshis freed in Afghanistan

[Bengal_Tiger]

Five abducted Bangladeshis freed in Afghanistan

Wed Aug 3, 2011 7:59am GMT


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DHAKA (Reuters) - Five Bangladeshis abducted in Afghanistan by unidentified gunmen have been released, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry's spokesman said the gunmen shot dead one Bangladeshi engineer while taking seven hostage near the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif in December 2010. Two were released two days later.
"We have been able to obtain the release of the five after long negotiations and hectic diplomatic efforts. We did not pay any ransom for their freedom," said Mohammad Shameem Ahsan, the foreign ministry's director general.
Most of those abducted were working for a South Korean firm in Afghanistan. Shameem gave no information on the abductors. (Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; Editing by Anis Ahmed and Ron Popeski)

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldN...7721DT20110803

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raajioon

[Bengal_Tiger]

Bangladeshi hostages tell of 7-month Afghan ordeal
DHAKA: Five Bangladeshi workers kidnapped in Afghanistan in December and freed this week told AFP on Monday they were chained up for much of their seven months as prisoners of suspected Taliban insurgents.

Taken hostage near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the construction workers employed with the South Korean firm Samwhan Corporation were first kept in a small mud room and later moved to a tiny cave. They feared they would be killed at any moment, Abdur Rahman Lovlu said. “They told us: ‘Prepare to die, you will be executed shortly.’ We were terrified,” said Lovlu who, along with his four colleagues, returned to Dhaka on Sunday after being released. “We were shackled with chains at night. We thought of death all the time,” he said.

“We were only unchained sometimes during the day and allowed to say prayers,” he said, adding the men were given worm-infested water to drink, only bread to eat, and were not allowed to bathe. Two of the men were chained together for 22 days in a row, they said.

Criminal groups and insurgents have kidnapped dozens of foreigners in Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. Most have been released unharmed, often after payment of ransoms. The terms of the Bangladeshi workers’ release have not been made public, but Dhaka’s Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told reporters last week that a ransom had not been paid.

Mahbub Ali, one of the workers, told AFP the armed men who took them hostage had told the Bangladeshis they were infidels as they were working for a Korean road-building company.

“They told us the Americans were using the roads to kill Taliban. They said we had become infidels because we work for an infidel-run company. They threatened to kill us,” he said. The five Bangladeshis were filmed at least four times by their captors, he said, and ordered to beg for their lives as armed men pointed rifles at them on camera, he said.

“They told us Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden were their leaders,” he said, adding that part way through their ordeal, their captors informed them that bin Laden had been killed by the Americans. The five men were part of a group of seven workers kidnapped by suspected Taliban insurgents on December 17 last year from a road-building camp some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Mazar-i-Sharif. One Bangladeshi engineer was killed during the raid and two workers escaped early on in the ordeal.

Lovlu said he did not believe that they were being freed by the captors, thinking instead that the offer of fresh clothes and a shower made just before they were released was a signal they were going to be killed. “We had an eerie feeling that they would kill us after we washed up,” he said. “After two hours of walking, they brought us to a jeep. Only then did we believe that we would be released finally. Allah had answered our seven months of non-stop prayers,” he said. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-8-2011_pg14_9

[Bengal_Tiger]

Five abducted BD workers back home from Afghanistan

Five Bangladeshi workers, kept hostage by Taliban in Afghanistan for seven and a half months, burst into tears at Hazrat Shahjalal (R) International Airport after returning home Sunday. — FE Photo

After seven-and-a-half months of captivity by Talibans in remote hilly Afghanistan, five Bangladeshi workers have returned home amid tearful reception by their family members, reports bdnews24.com.

Terming their freedom equal to rebirth, the freed men have described their nearly-starved days and nights in captivity.

"We were not tortured physically. But the places they used to keep us in shackles were horrific," freed Mahubub Ali said, holding his tearful elder brother, at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the city Sunday.

Anxious family members gathered at the airport early in the morning to receive them.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni earlier received the men -- Mahbub Ali of Rajshahi, Mohammad Imam Uddin of Chittagong, and Aminul Islam, Shafikul Alam and Lovelu Rahman of Tangail district -- after they arrived at around 8.45 am by an Emirates flight.

"I never believed I would return safely," Mahbub said bursting into tears. "I am glad. I can't explain my feelings. I used to cry and call the Almighty Allah all the time."

Imam Uddin, who has been in Afghanistan since May 2005, said he would never go back.

Aminul Islam said only bread was their meal. "They used to give water in a 10-litre jar for all of us for the whole day."

Aminul's father-in-law Belayet Hossain, who was waiting anxiously, said they saw a video in March. "We saw some people there (in video), but could not recognise any face."

"We heard details of the incident in December when Mozibur Rahman (another kidnapped who was freed earlier) of our village returned."

Lovelu Rahman recollected the night when they were kidnapped. "It was terrible," he said. "Some 22 armed people first opened fire outside and then took us away," he said.

"So far as I can remember, they kept us in four places-in caves and in remote villages, but the places were mostly dark. We were shackled at night."

Lovelu said on August 2 when they were released the Taliban drove them 10 to 15 kilometres away from their place and finally said, "You are free. You will see your men ahead."

According to the foreign ministry, a South Korean construction company, the employer of the workers, had engaged local senior citizens to negotiate their freedom.

It was not clear if the company needed to pay any ransom to buy their freedom, but the foreign minister had earlier said to her knowledge no money was paid.

They were abducted in December from a building site near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif where they were working for a South Korean construction company along with two other Bangladeshi men by a group of armed people.

But two were released two days after the Dec 17 abduction. During the kidnapping, another Bangladeshi worker was killed in the attack by the armed gang.

Bangladesh's envoy to Uzbekistan Muhammad Imran completed all formalities to facilitate their return after flying to Kabul as Bangladesh has no mission in Afghanistan.

The foreign minister thanked the government of Hamid Karzai for its help to bring the hapless workers back home.

Moni said Bangladesh would open its mission in Afghanistan soon.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.co...ate=2011-08-08



Dr Dipu Moni, foreign minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Bangladesh has no embassy in Afghanistan and it was its embassy in Uzbekistan which played a key role in the release of these men from the hands of terrorists.



Image from the Bangladesh embassy in Uzbekistan facebook page, flags of the two respective nations.



Bangladeshi minister of commerce, Farrukh Khan with Uzbek officials.

[Bengal_Tiger]

1. The GOB (government of Bangladesh) is making a grave mistake in even considering opening an embassy in Kabul. The resources, money, time and personnel used on opening and operating an embassy in war-torn Kabul would far better be used in opening or running an embassy in other more strategically important and less hostile countries.

The GOB must realize there is a war in the country and we should not have an embassy in a country where there is a war and where the current government could be removed, possibly even militarily.

2. The Taliban are extremely anti-Bangladeshi

a: Turkey has troops as part of NATO.

Bangladesh doesn't.

b: Turkey has never be threatened by the Taliban.

Bangladesh has, even over mere reports of American request for Bangladeshi troops.



Turkish NATO troops in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have warned Bangladesh against sending troops to Afghanistan.
The warning came after the US requested Dhaka to send combat forces to help the coalition forces in the war-ravaged country, reports AFP quoting the SITE intelligence group, a US monitoring service dedicated to gathering information on international terrorist groups.
The SITE website on Monday published a report headlined “Afghan Taliban reacts to US requesting troops from Bangladesh”.
Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, made the plea for troops at a meeting with Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in New York last week.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesig...php?nid=156389

So for the Taliban Turkish NATO troops are not a problem, Bangladeshi soldiers will be killed.

Not even soldiers but Bangladeshi workers who are not part of NATO forces like the Turkish soldiers, but are just building road have been and will be murdered by Taliban terrorists.

These workers were treated like animals when held in captivity by the Taliban.



Bangladeshi UN troops, Bangladesh is the largest or second largest contributor to UN troops through out the world.



Bangladeshi army officer, the Taliban are extremely anti-women and essentially treat women as animals.

c: Bangladesh is not a player in the internal politics of Afghanistan.

Turkey supports Dostum.

Bangladesh gets threatened by the Taliban, while Turkey doesn't.





Bangladesh should disengage itself from Afghanistan as the country is not fully safe and the Taliban or fighters aligned with them represent a substantial portion of the country and have made it clear they hate Bangladesh and Bangladeshis to the point they will kill them.

Bangladesh must instead focus on trade and development in other parts of the world where the people do not hate Bangladeshis or want to kill them.

As for the Taliban, I ask Allah to destroy these dogs and to help our brothers in the Awami National Party and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party in Pashtunkha against these murderous ISI-backed terrorists.



Baba Bacha Khan, Fakhr i Pakhtoon, rahmatullahi alaihi and Wali Khan (Allah yarhamahu).



Son of Mian Iftikhar Hussain (rahmatullahi alaih) murderd by Taliban terrorists.

Ya Allah, ya Rabbul 'aalameen, Allahumma sallee 'alaa sayyidina wa habibina, khairul khalqi Muhammad ibn Abdullah. Ihfiz al Muslimeen fil Pashtunkhwa min al Muharrabeen at-Taliban, min fitnatul ha'oolail khubatha wal kilab wa banu 'ul Pakistan, wa banu 'ul Zia ul Haq.

Translation: Oh Allah, oh lord of the worlds, peace and prayers upon our master and beloved one, the best of creation Muhammad ibn Abdullah (the prophet). Protect the Muslims in Pashtunkhwa from these terrorists, the Taliban, from the fitna of these "khubathaa" (plural for khabeeth, khabeeth meaning dirty, disgusting, filthy) and dogs and sons of Pakistan and sons of Zia ul Haq.

Ameen, thumma ameen, thumma ameen.

Wa sallee 'alaa ashraful mursaleen, wa khaatim an nabiyeen, sayyidina Muhammad.

[Shayesta]

To my surprise I met quiet some Bangalis in centre of Kabul city, and more surprising was that they had their entire family come over from Bangladesh to stay in Kabul (not sure whether temporarily or permanent). It's a big risk working in Afghanistan, and especially since even cities like Mazar aren't safe enough then for their own safety they should definitely stay out of Central and Southern areas.