1994 kidnappings of Westerners in India

The 1994 kidnappings of Westerners in India was the abduction of four foreign tourists in New Delhi, India on 20 October 1994, by terrorists.

Background

A violent insurgency had been going on in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. Kidnappings of foreign tourists had been attempted by Pakistan's ISI sponsored terrorists, most notably the attempt to kidnap seven Israelis in 1991.[1] However, until this point the separatists had not kidnapped anybody outside of the disputed state.[2]

Three of those kidnapped, Paul Benjamin Ridout, Christopher Myles Croston and Rhys Partridge (Australian citizen of British heritage), were from Great Britain and a fourth, Béla Nuss, was an American from San Francisco, California.[3]

Kidnappings

The tourists were all befriended by young British Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh who was a member of Harkat-ul-Ansar and pretending to be an Indian under the name "Rohit Sharma".[4] He told them that his uncle had died and left a village for him. He then invited them to visit the village with him. The three Britons were taken to a village near Saharanpur and kept captive there by his associates.[5] Béla Nuss was the last to be kidnapped and was kept in Ghaziabad just outside Delhi.[6] The kidnappers demanded that the Indian government free ten militants imprisoned in Kashmir and threatened to behead their captives if the demand was not met.[2]

Rescue

Béla Nuss was freed on 31 October when the police, while investigating a robbery, came across the house where she was being kept captive. After information given to the police by Nuss about other hostages being held, police staked out the house, captured one of the drivers, and the interrogation of two terrorists, later arrested at the site, led them to the village of Saharanpur, where the Britons were being held captive. Omar Saeed was also captured and wounded when he had returned to the Ghaziabad house to talk to Nuss after being informed that she had stopped eating four days before. Two policemen and a militant were killed in a pre-dawn shoot-out at the second location on 1 November. All the tourists were freed unhurt.[3]

Aftermath

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was incarcerated in Tihar Jail and stayed in prison till December 1999 when he was released in exchange for the passengers aboard hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814.[7] He subsequently was alleged to be involved in the murder of Daniel Pearl. He was sentenced to death on 14 July 2002 in Pakistan.[8] Three Pakistani militants belonging to Harkat-ul-Ansar were given death sentences and three others life sentences by a Delhi court in April 2002 for their roles in the kidnapping[9][10] Under CIA interrogation Khalid Sheikh Mohammad confessed to being the one who personally wielded the blade that killed Daniel Pearl.[11]

The kidnapping was the subject of a 2008 episode of the television series, Kidnapped Abroad.

The Bollywood film Omerta (2017 film) is based on this kidnapping and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

References
  1. Kashmir Rebels Kill Israeli Tourist, Marking New Phase in Conflict, The New York Times, 1991-06-28
  2. Indian Police Free 3 Britons Held Hostage, The New York Times, 1994-11-02
  3. 3 Britons and 1 American Freed From Kashmiri Militants in India, The New York Times, 1994-11-01
  4. Briton recalls brush with ‘reluctant kidnapper’, Dawn, 2002-02-15
  5. A NATION CHALLENGED: A SUSPECT; Confession in 1994 Case Evokes Pearl Abduction, The New York Times, 2002-02-08
  6. My big adventure, Harper's Magazine, January 2002
  7. "Tihar — base of Islamic radicals?". The Tribune. 16 February 2002. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  8. "Omar Sheikh sentenced to death in Pearl murder case". Rediff.com. 15 July 2002. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  9. PTI (27 April 2002). "3 Harkat militants awarded death sentence". The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  10. "3 Pakistanis sentenced to death". The Hindu. 28 April 2002. Archived from the original on 12 July 2009. Retrieved 4 January 2020 – via Hinuonnet.
  11. Burger, Timothy J.; Zagorin, Adam (12 October 2006). "Fingering Danny Pearl's Killer". time.com. Time Inc. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
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