As the news of the Indian engineer K Suryanarayana, (abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan on Friday) brutally killed by his kidnappers on Sunday came out, I have received calls and mails from so many friends enquiring abt my safety.(Yes,Iam still in my month long vacaton in India) Before I proceed further let me offer my sympathies to the bereaved family and thank friends who remembered me.The terror murder of Suryanarayana is the second such incident in the last four months wherein an Indian has been targeted. The earlier case was Mariappan Kutty, a Border Road Organisation jawan kidnapped and murdered in similar fashion.
These 2 incidents reinstate the dangers of working in the Afghan-Pakistan border provinces like Kandahar, Qalat and Zabul. Unlike the Central and North Afghanistan where I work, these southern areas come under the Pashtu speaking belt and are Taliban strong holds. These are areas where even Afghans themselves (who speak Farsi) fear to tread. Unless the work is within an army camp or some secured cantonment its suicidal to take up jobs in these areas of tribal mindset.
Another important aspect that the Indian Government fails to address is the involvement of ISI in such attacks. Pakistan has been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the growing presence of Indians in these areas that have long been Pakistan’s backyard. Ever since the Mariappan kutty incident, India has sent more security forces to these areas in the name of protecting Indian workers and the presence of increasing Indian forces has alarmed Pakistani agencies of late. Last few months saw accusation by Pakistan of Indian RAW and Afghan intelligence agents collaborating in these areas against Pak interests. In my opinion, this incident is a direct reflection of this. Its clear that Pakistan under the guise of the Taliban wants to send a signal to India that its not going to allow its backyard to be usurped by India. The Taliban, even when they kidnapped their main enemies -the Americans or Europeans, had always negotiated and there are many instances of successful hostage release. But the murder of kidnapped Indians before proclaimed deadlines and without negotiations is clearly showing some underlying ‘motive’…and it doesn’t need a rocket scientist to determine who the ‘motivator’ is…
update : Nitin writes more on the subject in his A c o r n
