Search for Swiss couple abducted in #pakistan unsuccessful

Pakistani law enforcement agencies were searching for a Swiss couple abducted in country's south-western province of Balochistan last week, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

Olivier David Och, 31, and Daniela Widmer, 28, were taken away by gunmen on July 1 in Loralai district when they arrived from the central province of Punjab.

'We have no information yet where they are right now. There have been no developments in the investigations so far,' said Sohailur Rehman Baloch, the top civil administrator in Loralai. 'But we have dispatched teams to different areas to find them.'

A Taliban commander who spoke on condition of anonymity said last week that the couple had been moved to South Waziristan in the area controlled by a pro-government Taliban leader Maulvi Nazir.

Nazir is believed to have an agreement with the government under which he focuses only on fighting foreign forces in Afghanistan and avoids attacks inside Pakistan.

'There are reports here that the Swiss people (the couple) is with Punjabi Taliban and we don't know yet whether they will keep them in South Waziristan or move them further towards North Waziristan,' said the commander when contacted this week.

'Whatever demands they put - either of ransom or of exchange of prisoners - would come once the abducted people is at a safe place,' he added.

Punjabi Taliban is a term used for those militants who are from Pakistan's largest province but fighting alongside militants from tribal areas. They are believed to be very close to al-Qaeda.

But Pakistani Taliban have not yet taken responsibility for the kidnapping and when contacted their official spokesmen refused to comment on the case.

Baloch said that the government was clueless where the couple was. 'We are still searching for them and hope that they have not been yet been moved to the tribal belt.'

The Swiss entered Pakistan on June 28 from India and were on their way back to Europe though Iran and Turkey.

Baloch said that officials from the Swiss embassy in Pakistan were in constant contact with the Pakistani government on the issue. 'Some of their officials have visited Loralai to get first hand information on ongoing investigations.'