Asad Qureshi is a British filmmaker who was kidnapped on 26 March 2010 by a militant group called the " Asian Tigers" in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

along the Afghanistan border, where he was making a film in

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanis ...

and interviewing

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

leaders. Qureshi was accompanied by his driver, Rustam Khan, and two senior members of the

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

Khalid Khawaja Squadron Leader Khalid Khawaja ( ur, ; 1951–2010) was an officer of the Pakistan Air Force, and the Air Force's intelligence officer of the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency.Colonel Imam Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, best known as Colonel Imam, (died January 23, 2011) was a one-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army, and a former diplomat who served as the Consul-General of Pakistan at Herat, Afghanistan.Matinuddin, Kamal ...

during his trip. All four were abducted; Khawaja was killed and his body was found a month later in Mir Ali with an attached note accusing him of spying for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and being responsible for killing people during the

Siege of Lal Masjid The siege of Lal Masjid ( ur, , code-named Operation Sunrise) was a confrontation in July 2007 between Islamist students & fundamentalist militants and the Government of Pakistan, led by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shauk ...

. Qureshi and his driver were released in September 2010 through family negotiations after 165 days of captivity. Colonel Imam was executed in January 2011. Qureshi's release was a rare occurrence as the Pakistani Taliban have been known to execute most of their victims. Qureshi has

British Pakistani British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...

origins. He has a reputation as an experienced filmmaker, and prior to being detained, he had been based in Pakistan for over five years. It was not his first visit to

Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...

. In 2009 he made "The Battle of Swat Valley" for the BBC's '' Panorama'', charting the army action taken in Swat against the Taliban. In April 2011 his film ''Defusing Human Bombs'' was screened in Pakistan; it shows the rehabilitation of children kidnapped by the Taliban and trained to be suicide bombers. He had started the film in September 2009 and the project was put on hold when he was kidnapped. He then continued the project after his release. Usman Punjabi, who planned the kidnap, was killed two weeks before Qureshi's release and Sabir Mehsud, the leader of the Asian Tigers, was himself kidnapped by

Hakimullah Mehsud Hakimullah Mehsud (Pashto/ ur, حکیم اللہ محسود; − 1 November 2013), born Jamshed Mehsud () and also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud (), was a Pakistani militant who was the second emir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. He was deputy to comm ...

. Sabir Mehsud was tortured and beaten and shot in the face so many times that he was beyond recognition.

References

External links

Asad Qureshi Official Website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Qureshi, Asad Living people British male journalists British filmmakers British expatriates in Pakistan English people of Pakistani descent People of the insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prisoners of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people)