Warren Weinstein
An American contractor, named Warren Weinstein age 63 was kidnapped in the upmarket neighbourhood of Model Town in Lahore on August 13th,2011.He was about to end his four year long post in Pakistan and return to The US. He was working as the Pakistan’s country director of Virginia-based development company J.E. Austin Associates.
He described his work as supervising a four-year $11 million “competitiveness project”, funded by the American government, which was involved in dairy, horticulture, furniture, and medical equipment projects.
The alarming incident of kidnapping occurred when at dawn; someone knocked at the door and offered meals to the guard of Warren’s house. Five men then climbed into the house using the back door. Later, they asked Warren’s driver to knock on his bedroom door. Upon opening the door, Warren Weinstein was snatched by the group of kidnappers who took him away.
According to Pakistani police, kidnappers arrived at Weinstein’s house in Lahore on August 13, 2011 at 3:00 AM and obtained Weinstein’s security detail before abducting Weinstein and driving him to a hiding place.
No one has admitted yet the responsibility of Warren’s abduction. Kidnappings in Pakistan are common and are normally attributed to AL Qaeda’s agents. This kidnapping incident took place amidst uneasy relations between Pakistan and USA which is accelerating tension between the two at present. Senator John McCain, who was in Islamabad yesterday to meet the Prime Minister and President, was given reassurances that the Pakistani government was doing all it could to find Mr Weinstein.
Warren Weinstein
Moreover, with this regard, Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to United States wrote on twitter that Pakistan and USA together should make efforts to locate Weinstein.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton called her Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday to ‘express concern’ over the incident. This was followed by US Ambassador Cameron Munter’s separate meetings with Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar and then Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir on 15th August to press the Pakistani authorities to ensure the early recovery of American aid expert.
Another twist came in when Punjab Law Minister, Rana Sanaullah prompted that Weinstein must be a spy. He spoke to Reuters: “We suspect that he was involved in intelligence gathering because we offered him a police escort, deployed police at his house, but he resisted our attempts,” the minister told Reuters. “It gives the impression that he did not want us to keep a check on his activities and that makes it suspicious.” Nevertheless, Weinstein’s friend denied these false allegations on him.
Following the kidnapping incident, the police detained a number of people including the security guards and Weinstein’s driver. Lahore Police is currently making strenuous efforts to locate Weinstein and phone calls record of Weinstein is also being checked. The finger prints of the suspects have also been taken and day and night efforts are being made. The use of lithiogram is being made to detect the truth level of the security guards regarding their statements.
It is necessary for the security and the investigation agencies to beef up their efforts to trace Weinstein. Else there is a danger of relations between America and Pakistan to remain strained for long!
Warren Weinstein
