Rescued DANIDA official narrates abduction experience

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CHITTAGONG, July 21 (UNB): The DANIDA project official, rescued from the kidnappers 13 days ago, narrated his harrowing experience to the newsmen before leaving the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Saturday.
Armed criminals abducted Hossain Shahid Sumon, project officer of DANIDA, the official aid agency of Denmark, from Kiburipara at Thanchi Upazila of Bandarban district on June 25. The Army-led joint forces rescued him on July 8 after an intensive operation.
Sumon told the journalists that his abductors identified them as members of "People's Army" whose aim was to procure arms for waging a war.
"They abducted me as they need money to buy arms and demanded Tk 10 million as ransom for my release," he said.
"The kidnappers were 12 in number. They were educated and spoke in English. They were not from 'Chakma' community."
He added: "I suffered much due to mental and physical torture by the abductors. They didn't give me (any staple) food. Most of the time, they gave me something made of tree leaves to eat, but which were not eatable."
Sumon further said that once he favoured removing the army from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, but "now I realise that time has not come yet to remove the army from the area."
He thanked army, police and BDR for rescuing him from the clutches of the kidnappers.
A gang of armed masked terrorists kidnapped Sumon and his driver, Mohammad Hanif, from a meeting of NGOs at Kiburipara at Thanchi Upazila on June 25.
The joint forces, comprising Army, BDR and police, launched a combing operation in the entire inaccessible hilly region in their bid to rescue Sumon.
In the face of the joint forces' multi-pronged massive operation, the kidnappers fled deep into the hills leaving Sumon behind.
Sumon was found in poor health at Shimpajhiri in Luchangpara area and first taken to a local BDR camp and then to the CMH in Chitagong for treatment.