Antonie Chrástecká and Hana Humpálová, two Czech women kidnapped in 2013 in Pakistan, have given interviews to the Turkish press agency Anadolu after their recent release claiming that they do not know which group was behind their abduction and that their kidnappers never identified themselves. Reportedly the worst part of their captivity was the beginning, when they had to get used to the sudden change and feared their captors.
Now the women are said to be looking forward to their new lives and to be enjoying ordinary things like people’s smiles and the sunshine. Anadolu reports that the women, whose release was facilitated by the Turkish humanitarian organization IHH, crossed the border into Turkey on Friday.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka confirmed yesterday that the women had returned to the Czech Republic this morning and are now with their families. Some media have reported that they are currently hospitalized.
In the interview, Humpálová described their abduction, which took place on the road leading out of Taftan, a town on the border of Iran and Pakistan. "We were on a bus. A group of men stopped the bus and ordered us to go with them, we gave them our passports and all of our things," she says in a video recording of the interview.
"Basically we know nothing about them. They never said who they were. We don’t know the name of the group, we know nothing about them, they never explained anything to us," said Humpálová.
She also said the worst part of the abduction for both women was the very beginning of their captivity, "because it was a big change and we were really afraid of them." She claims it was the first time she had ever seen weapons and "people who looked like they knew how to use them".
After their release, both women said they are primarily looking forward to seeing their families, about whom they have had no news. "I want to see them healthy and smiling, even though I might cry," Humpálová said.
Chrástecká admitted in the interview to being nervous and tired, although very happy. "I am so happy, because I have waited for this for two years. Two years. I have been waiting in a single room to see my family again," she said.
"I can’t believe it. I don’t want to go to bed, because I’m a bit afraid I’ll wake up and learn that our freedom was just a dream," Chrástecká said.
Humpálová said after her release that she had the feeling she was seeing a new life and a new world. "You hope you can begin to live a different life. For example, when I first saw the sun, or when I saw someone smiling at me, it was such a simple thing, but normally you don’t really see those things. I feel very impatient," she said.
The women were abducted in the southwestern province of Baluchistan in March 2013. They had arrived in Pakistan from neighboring Iran as tourists with the aim of traveling on to India.
