In the event of a previous hostage-taking in Pakistan, Switzerland offered the Taliban a ransom of $ 1.25 million. This is what the former Swiss Taliban hostage Daniela Widmer said in an interview with “NZZ am Sonntag”. There was no payment. She and her partner at the time could have escaped the kidnappers in the end.
A ransom is almost always paid for kidnappings, said Widmer ten years after her hostage-taking and shortly before her story, entitled “And tomorrow you are dead”, will hit German-speaking Swiss cinemas as a hostage drama at the end of October. “If governments say otherwise, it’s a joke. Nobody can get free only through good negotiations and a handshake. “
In the case of her and her companion, Switzerland’s last offer – a week before the flight – was $ 1.25 million, but the Taliban wanted $ 50 million. “We knew then that the negotiations would never come to an end and that we had no choice but to flee.”
Bernese police couple
The police couple from Bern were kidnapped in July 2011 on a private trip in the northeast of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. According to official reports, both managed to escape after a good eight months when they were able to leave their prison in an unguarded moment and escape to a base of the Pakistani army.
According to the Swiss foreign department, no ransom was paid. Nevertheless, considerable costs were incurred for the federal government. During the 259 days of being held hostage, several officers were continuously involved in the case.
Long suffering
Widmer described her exertions again in the interview. “After they attacked us and dragged us over the mountains for two weeks, we had to sleep in goat stalls during the day and wade through swamps at night, there were two eggs and brown dirty water a day.” She suffered from diarrhea for six months and her partner had malaria twice. He lost 22 pounds.
The ex-hostages were heavily criticized after their return because they had put themselves in danger despite warnings. “Some even wished us dead,” says Widmer. She defended herself that they had prepared well. “If we had known about kidnappings, we would never have driven through there.” In the end, the kidnappers are always the perpetrators. (SDA)