Villagers Discuss Hostage Rumors Locals Report Sightings, Say Men Kept In Mountain Huts

One day last week, two men collecting firewood near a village in Kashmir glanced up toward a mountain path and saw four Western-looking men walking with a squad of armed guerrillas.

Though they couldn’t be sure who the Westerners were, it’s likely they were Spokane psychologist Donald Hutchings, 42, and three European tourists kidnapped six months ago by Kashmiri militants.

“There were 10 to 12 people, including four or five unarmed foreigners,” said Bashir Ahmed Lone, a local farmer. He said all the men were wearing warm ankle-length ponchos common in Kashmir.

Kashmir, popular for its hiking trails through the snow-peaked Himalayas, is also India’s only province with a Muslim majority. Many guerrilla groups seeking independence from India are active in the region.

Six Westerners were captured here in early July by a previously unknown group called Al-Faran, which demanded the release of 15 jailed guerrillas. India refused. One of the hostages escaped; another was killed in August.

Villagers in this area hear rumors about the remaining four hostages or occasionally see them as their captors move from one hiding place to another.

Abdul Ghaffar Butt, a local worker, said he heard the hostages were being held in huts owned by shepherds in mountains about 10,000 feet high.

The two men spoke cautiously Wednesday to an Associated Press reporter outside a 17th century garden near Achhabal, 40 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state.

Others who saw the group refused to be identified or say anything more. Residents here do not speak easily to outsiders, after six years of war by Muslim separatists. Nearly 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1989.

In New Delhi, a spokesman for the Kashmir state government said the hostages have survived freezing temperatures and appear to have been properly clothed. “The abductors have been in contact with local doctors to look after their health,” said Ramamohan Rao.

Hutchings had reportedly suffered from a cold-related problem that could have been the onset of frostbite. But he appears to have recovered, Rao said.

On Wednesday, Al-Faran issued a statement repeating an earlier claim that the Indian army had captured the hostages in a gun battle with the guerrillas a month ago.