ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A mystery shrouds why the Czech Embassy in Islamabad has refrained from sharing information with the Pakistani media, international media, and even with families of the victims about any investigation or contact with kidnappers established with the Embassy. A special page on Facebook that was dedicated to the girls and their case of kidnapping became inaccessible and disappeared when it had around 16,309 likes.
This page address was as follows:
Hanka a Tonca Domu | Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanka-a-Tonča-Domů/434819776601323
Hanka a Tonca Domu. 16,309 likes • 35 talking about this. (CZ) Dve ceske divky Hanka a Tonicka se v bieznu 2013 vydaly na spolecnou cestu do Indie. Tou
This Facebook page was linked on a special page uploaded by their friends. Page updating was also stopped for reasons only known by those who had been updating this page regularly for some days and then disappeared. One can see this page and link to Facebook at the bottom of the page, but this Facebook page has long since become inaccessible.
See the link of that special page that was posted by friends of the kidnapped girls as follows:
http://www.hankaatoncadomu.com/?lang=en
A video appeared on YouTube and then disappeared or was deleted about these girls in the confinement of the Taliban. On June 27, 2013, a video was uploaded by theworldvideos1 at YouTube of these two girls. The Czech Foreign Ministry held meetings to check the voice in the video pleads for the release of neuroscience Dr. Aafia and for the release of the Czech tourists kidnapped in Pakistan. If such a video was uploaded on YouTube on June 27, 2013, how did the Embassy or Czech government miss this video, even though it was reported in the media in Pakistan?
Video address was:
Now the Czech Foreign Ministry claims that a video was received by the Islamabad Embassy on August 23, 2013, but despite having a video, the Embassy did not share it with the Pakistan or international media, although the Taliban had released this video months ago.
The Czech Foreign Ministry, after a delay of around two months and after receiving a video message of the girls released on October 30, 2013, acknowledged that the video was delivered to the Czech Embassy in Islamabad and was released to the media at the request of the families of the victims. Sources claim that the Czech Embassy was contacted by kidnappers in May, but there are no credible facts available to confirm this information. Everything is a mystery in this case, and people believe in Islamabad. Sources claimed when the Czech Embassy did not respond to the Taliban regarding this video, they then released it on YouTube.
In the next video, the hostages spoke separately and one said the video was taken August 23, 2013. Pakistani newspapers ran this story indicating that the Taliban had released a video of the kidnapped girls and demanded Dr. Aafia to release these girls, but strangely, the Czech government is still insisting that the identity of the kidnappers are unknown. Czech President Milos Zeman said earlier this month that the two were being held on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and officials were negotiating in hopes of getting them released.
This saga has many questions regarding the conduct of the Czech embassy in Islamabad from the very first day this unfortunate incident took place.
Just after a week of the kidnapping, a mysterious silence fell over the Czech Embassy in Islamabad with no response to any media inquiry, and there was also silence from the Czech Interior Ministry in Prague which had reasons to believe that the kidnappers might have contacted authorities for a ransom. Diplomatic circles were of the view that the case of this kidnapping of the Czech female tourists was becoming similar to the kidnapping of a Swiss couple last year from the same route, because in this case, Swiss authorities became silent for almost eight months. The couple was abducted in July 2011 and was released on March 15, 2012. The couple — Daniela Widmer and David Och – was abducted by the Taliban who also kept silent and did not take responsibility until the deal was established, money was paid, and the couple was released. After release, the couple claimed that they escaped from the Taliban upon reaching a military checkpoint near the city of Miranshah in North Waziristan, a tribal region in northwest Pakistan, but a spokesman for the Pakistan Taliban, Ihsanullah Ihsan, in a press statement confirmed that the couple was released after a council of elders was convened. Sources, however, confirmed that the couple was released after a ransom was paid, but the Swiss government would not confirm that it had given any ransom money.
The Interior Ministry of Pakistan had feelings that there was the possibility of contact between the Czech authorities and kidnappers as they did in the case of the Swiss couple when abductors directly established contact with families of the Swiss couple and authorities of Switzerland last year.
The driver of bus from where Czech girls were abducted said that kidnappers were riding in a Toyota Land Cruiser and forced the women to sit in the back seats as five people sat on either side of them.
Muno Khan informed the media that the bus started its journey from the Iranian border at around 3:30 p.m. and reached the spot of the kidnapping around 5:25 p.m. “They [the kidnappers] waved at the bus from around 500 meters away [and ordered it] to stop. Two of them came from the right and five others from the left side. The five [who approached from the left] were wearing uniforms, and the two [on the right side] were in plain clothes. One of them was holding a wireless set. I thought they were security men who were checking the bus. Then two of them came inside the bus and took the AK-47 away from the guard [a man guarding the women] and had them all [the guard and the two Czech women] get off the bus,” Muno Khan claimed.
The driver informed the media that the women were sitting in the front seat and kidnappers spoke to them in English. Then the conductor removed their luggage. I asked if they had some more things with them. And the women said, “Yes.” Then they went back into the bus and took their remaining luggage.
The two Czech girls kidnapped in Pakistan were going to India and both took a land route, because they had little money for air travel, claims family sources. Both girls studied psychology and special education at the college. They both began to engage in social work and had plans to stay in India for two months.
www.dnd.com.pk
