Abducted Pakistani engineer freed in South Sudan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

A Pakistani engineer kidnapped by rebels in South Sudan has been found and will soon be reunited with his family, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Ayaz Hussain Jamali, a resident of Pakistan's southern Badin district, was working for an international petroleum company when he was kidnapped in South Sudan's capital Juba several weeks ago.

“He has finally been recovered today [Thursday] by Sudanese officials and taken to Addis Ababa from where a special plane provided by the Government of Sudan, flew him to Khartoum,” a statement from the foreign ministry read.

“Pakistan acknowledges with gratitude the assistance and cooperation rendered by the governments of Sudan, South Sudan, China and [the] ICRC in securing the safe and early release of Ayaz Jamali”, the government said.

According to Hindustan Times, two Indian engineers of the same company were also abducted by rebels in Juba.

The kidnappers, the newspaper reported, demanded $1 million for their release, a ransom the South Sudanese government refused to pay.

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, has been grappling with violence and civil war since its inception in 2013.