From Pakistan,Taliban threats reach NY

During two weeks of captivity,Khan says,he was interrogated about his wealth,property and ‘mission’ in the US. He was released in exchange for an $8,000 ransom.

“Our Swat,our paradise,is burning now,” said Khan,55,who returned to the US.

Pakistani immigrants from the Swat valley,where the Taliban have been battling Pakistani security forces since 2007,say some of their families are being singled out for threats,kidnapping and even murder by Taliban forces,who view them as potential American collaborators and lucrative sources of ransom.

There are an estimated 7,000 immigrants from the valley in the US.

Swati immigrants say they have been left with the sense that the more they try to help their families back home,the more harm they may do.

Iqbal Ali Khan,50,the general secretary of the American chapter of the Awami National Party,a dominant secular political party in Swat,said he had received three threatening phone calls in the past two months. The callers ordered him to bring $1 million with him on his next trip to Pakistan. “Or you know what will happen,” one caller said. “We know your family.”