Despite >spending an uncertain three months in the custody of his abductors in Sudan, Mumbai-based techie Irfan Jaffrey says he never really faced a direct threat to his life.
He, however, had his share of anxious moments, whenever the guards went on a binge and had their mood swings. Mr. Jaffrey was held captive in a movable, military-designed tent in a nondescript location in Darfur for 94 days at a stretch. On one occasion, his guards, who were drunk, beat him up and hit him with the butt of a Kalashnikov, causing his nose to bleed for two hours.
“They would often get drunk and start arguments. They seemed frustrated with the slow process of the negotiation,” he said. “During one of their drinking sessions, they started firing randomly. A bullet whizzed past my right ear, temporarily deafening me. Had I moved my head even an inch, I would have been shot.”
Irfan was released by his abductors last week after gruelling negotiations involving the United Nations. An employee of Trigyn Technologies Ltd., a multinational information technology firm which provides services to the U.N., Mr. Jaffrey was posted in Sudan in 2009. On March 11 this year, four armed gunmen riding a Toyota Cruiser abducted him from outside a Turkish restaurant in Darfur where he had gone for dinner with a friend.
“It seemed to me then that my fate was sealed as, strangely, that day the entire street, despite it being a busy one, had not a single car or people walking for up to 200 metres,” said Mr. Jaffrey.
During his captivity, however, Mr. Jaffrey learned to relax. The abductors gradually allowed him to call his family back home, though only for a short three or four minutes.
There were also some bizarre moments. Once, the abducting group’s leader, whom Irfan remembers as “Adam”, tossed him a gun and asked him to shoot any of the gang members. “I knew they were toying with me. I kept my calm,” said Mr. Jaffrey. “Such was their frustration at one point that they forced me to call my family and demand that the ransom money be sent immediately. Normally, I was the one pleading and crying before them to let me talk to my family.”
Mr. Jaffrey came out of the ordeal 18 kilos lighter and is currently recuperating. His captors kept him alive on a diet of Aseeda, a Sudanese porridge, and water.
R. Ganapathi, chairman of Trigyn, says the case was an example how Indian agencies can deliver in tough situations if they get the right kind of support.
