Kidnap: India intensifies efforts to secure release

New Delhi, Apr 29: Intensifying allround efforts, India today asserted that it would not ''leave any stone unturned'' to seek the ''safe and early release'' of the Telecom engineer who was kidnapped by Taliban in Southern Afghanistan last night, even as the abductors threatened to kill him by 1800 Hrs local time (1900 hrs IST) tomorrow.

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters here that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was being briefed about the evolving situation.

Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi also convened a high-level meeting to review the situation and the security arrangements for other Indian workers in Afghanistan.

The 41 year old telecom engineer fro Hderabad, K Suryanarayan, who was working on Afghanistan's mobile phone network for a Bahraini company, was abducted by the Taliban on Kabul-Kandahar road at 1800 hrs local time (1900 hrs IST) yesterday.

A Reuters report from Kabul today said the abductors had threatened to kill him if all Indians working in Afghanistan did not leave the country.

The engineer's wife Manjula, who is living in Hyderabad with her three children, appealed to the kidnappers to release her husband. She said her husband, who was the lone bread-winner for the family went to Afghanistan in search of a livelihood.

Suryanarayana's father, Chandashekhar, also appealed to the Taliban to release him immediately on compassionate grounds.

He said his son was innocent and was not involved in anything.

UNI