Abducted engineer's family in state of shock

Mangalore, Apr 23: The family of Sagrang Mohammad Naeem, abducted by suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan on April 21, are in a state of shock as his whereabouts are still not known.

Naeem, a middle-aged engineer working with a Dubai-based Afghan-Canadian private company, was in Adraskan district of Heart province in Southwest Afghanistan, when he was abducted by armed men along with a Nepali and a car driver. The Dubai-based company had been hired by an American company to execute some work in the area. His home at Gurupura Kaimara, about 15 km from here on the outskirts of the city, now haS only aged people as youngsters had gone abroad, mainly to the Gulf countries for work.

Naeem's father Mohammad Hussain, who was badly shaken by the news of abduction of his son, has fervently appealed to the Centre to take effective steps for safe release and return of his son from Afghanistan.

''We have spoken to the local police and the district administration. But our efforts to contact the Indian High Commission have failed. We are really worried. A person working in the Gulf, whom we know, called up this morning and assured that Naeem will come back safely,'' said the septuagenarian father.

Mohammed Hussain said the family also had received a phone call from a person, claiming to be the Director of the Dubai-based company last evening and he said the company was making all efforts to get Naeem released.

He said he knew something about the abductors and the company would negotiate and was ready to meet any of their conditions, to get him released.

Naeem's two sons were also engineers and work in the Gulf.

UNI