Taliban threaten to kill Indian hostage

New Delhi, Apr 29 (UNI) The Taliban have threatened to kill the abducted Indian telecom engineer if India does not pull out all its workers from Afghanistan by 1800 hrs local time (1900 hrs IST) tomorrow even as India intensified allround efforts to secure his safe and early release.

Foreign Secetary Shyam Saran, speaking to some reporters here, asserted that India 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, He said 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 from Hyderabad, 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.

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 Afghanisthan in search of 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.

Commenting on reports that Taliban had threatened to kill Suryanarayan by 1800 hrs tomorrow if all Indians did not leave the country, the Foreign Secretary said India had received a report from its embassy in Kabul that some international news agencies in the Afghan capital had been contacted telephonically by an individual claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban.

''The message he has given is that Indian Government should announce by 1800 Hrs tomorrow that all Indians in Afghanistan must leave the country failing which the hostage would be killed,'' he said.

A Reuters reports from Kabul said that Taliban insurgents had threatened to kill the telecom worker unless Indians left Afghanistan.

''If India does not pull out all its nationals working in Afghanistan by 1900 hrs Is't tomorrow, we're going to kill him,'' Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by telephone from an undisclosed location, accrding to Reuters.

The Foreign Secetary said the government is in touch with the Afghan authorities to ascertain whether this message is indeed from those who are responsible for the kidnapping of Suryanarayan.

He said that despite this message, India had intensified efforts to seek the ''early and safe release'' of Suryanarayan so that he can be reunited with his family.

India's Amassador is in constant touch XXX Picking up from Para seven of DI 37 EXTERNAL-THIRD LEAD AFGHAN-INDIAN KIDNAPPED TWO NEW DELHI.

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