ISLAMABAD: Taliban have released Pakistani chopper hostages after successful dialogue in local tribal jirgas here on Saturday.
As per details, the crew of Pakistan government helicopter that crash landed in eastern Afghanistan, have reached federal capital of Pakistan, Islamabad safely.
Officials at the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad on August 4 confirmed the crash-landing, adding that the helicopter was bought by the Punjab government from Uzbekistan and was being taken from there for overhauling.
“An Mi-17 transport helicopter belonging to the Punjab government was scheduled to fly to Russia for repair. We think the same chopper crash-landed in Logar,” Akhtar Munir, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, told news agency AFP.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had called General John Nicholson, Commander Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and asked him to help recover the crew of the chopper that crash landed in Logar, according to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“Gen. Nicholson assured all possible help in this regard,” said the ISPR spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa on Twitter.
He stated that the Afghan government and the Afghan National Army (ANA) authorities had also been contacted for necessary assistance in the recovery of crew members.
Banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud Group had claimed that they have in their custody all the hostages of the Pakistani Punjab Government’s helicopter that crash-landed in Afghanistan last week.
According to a media statement, Taliban claimed that it will soon release a video of the hostages, reports the Nation. However, according to earlier reports, the TTP denied having taken any hostages while the Afghan Taliban claimed having them.
