Kidnapping the elite becomes a source of Taliban funds in Pak

For many hostages,the experience means a harrowing journey into the heart of Waziristan,the fearsome Taliban redoubt.

One young Punjabi businessman who spent six months there in Taliban hands last year,described anonymously,that it was a terrifying time of grimy cells,clandestine journeys,brutal beatings and grinding negotiations with his distraught family.

During his captivity,he said four teenage suicide bombers were undergoing instruction,taking indoctrination classes in the morning and carrying mock explosive vests in the afternoon. “Their mantra was: ‘One button and you go to heaven,’” he recalled.

A 70-year-old German aid worker and his 24-year-old Italian colleague,who disappeared from Multan on January 20,are being held in North Waziristan. In militant captivity also is Shahbaz Taseer,son of the assassinated Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

The Pakistani Taliban say the kidnappings earn valuable funds and leverage to free imprisoned fighters. Pakistani and foreign militant commanders,in Waziristan,give the orders,but it is a combination of hired criminals and “Punjabi Taliban” who snatch hostages. Ransom demands range between $500,000 and $2.2 million. The kidnappers’ methods are sophisticated: surveillance; sedative injections; video demands via Skype; use of different gangs for different tasks.

The victims tend to be wealthy and,often,from sectarian minorities. “They told me upfront I had been taken because I was an Ahmadi,” the Punjabi businessman said. He was locked in a cellar for a month before being driven to Miram Shah,the capital of North Waziristan,in a burqa. Over time the hostage developed relationships,of a sort,with his captors. Allowed to roam the compound,he fell into conversation with some,helped others with the cooking; sometimes,after meals,militants would sit in a circle and make funny faces. The hostage was encouraged to join in. “The idea was to keep a straight face. At the end,everyone would burst into laughter,” he recalled with a wry smile. “It was funny and surreal.” Some offered strange privileges. Before recording a hostage video,his captors thrashed him with a water hose. But later,two apologetic Afghan fighters sent for painkillers,and insisted massaging his bruises with olive oil.

Still,there were frequent reminders of the militants’ cold-steel ideology. As reading material,they offered a treatise by al-Qaeda’s leader,Ayman al-Zawahri; they watched videos of Pakistani soldiers being executed,or movies: Muslims killing Christian crusaders in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven,or Sylvester Stallone battling Soviet soldiers in Rambo 3.

When the businessman was freed last year,his family sent a cash payment. Just before his departure,a handful of fighters bid him farewell. It was summer,they said,so it was time to go to Afghanistan,for a fresh season of battle against the NATO.