PESHAWAR - A Swiss couple kidnapped by Taliban over eight months ago claimed they have escaped from the captors on Thursday and were shifted from North Waziristan to Peshawar and then onwards to Islamabad.
Olivier David Och (31) and Daniela Widmer (29) had turned up at an Army post in Miranshah. ‘They escaped, this is what they have told us’, Pakistan Army spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said. ‘They reported to our checkpost’, he said.
However, there are conflicting reports, that the couple really escaped or the government somehow managed their freedom after meeting the demands of the Taliban.
After their release, the two were taken by helicopter from Miranshah to Peshawar and then to Islamabad. The Pakistani authorities informed the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad of the development.
Daniela Widmer, wearing a baggy pink shirt in traditional Pakistani style, a red scarf over her shoulders and Olivier David Och, having beard and wearing shalwar kamiz, had been abducted at gunpoint on July 1st, 2011 from Loralai district of Balochistan, where reportedly they had arrived for spending their holidays. Meanwhile, reportedly TTP, has said that the couple had been freed, but only after an undisclosed ransom had been paid.
AFP adds: The couple was smiling and waving to the cameras and apparently in good health when they arrived in Islamabad.
Officials said they were found at a checkpost in the tribal belt, 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 smiled and waved but 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,” army spokesman 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.”
Five foreigners remain kidnapped in Pakistan: an American, a Briton, a German, an Italian and a Kenyan. All of them are aid and development workers.
The Taliban had claimed the Swiss abduction, demanding that they be exchanged for Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist jailed in 2010 in New York for the attempted murder of US government agents in Afghanistan.
But 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 was in a safe place in Pakistan 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.
Pakistani officials said the Taliban released the couple in Spilga village in North Waziristan.
But they were not able to say whether any ransom had been paid or demands from the Taliban had been accepted.
Meanwhile, Swiss Foreign Minister said the couple escaped after being held captive by the Taliban for more than eight months. Didier Burkhalter said no ransom was paid.