SRINAGAR: The Al Faran militant outfit, holding four foreigners hostage since July 4, has threatened to kill the tourists if their demands were not met immediately.
The threat was conveyed by Al Faran to a government spokesman during a telephone conversation here this week.
Official sources said that when the government spokesman said that five months have passed and pleaded for early and safe release of all the four foreign hostages, the Al Faran spokesman said “our Masood Sahib and other activists are also in your jail for years. You release them.”
The government representative told the Al Faran spokesman that he will convey their demands to the higher authorities. But the outfit spokesman said “we will also send the hostages very high” and disconnected the line,”
Meanwhile a report from Jammu adds that the British tourists, Paul Wells, who has been in the captivity of ‘Al Faran’ since July 4 is “healthy and normal,” police quoting eyewitnesses said.
‘However, another hostage, the US national Donald Hutchings, is reportedly struck by frostbite, police said. The sources said while Wells has recovered, Hutchings was still “very weak.”
Article extracted from this publication >> December 1, 1995
