Warren Weinstein, a former professor at the State University of New York at Oswego, remains missing one month after his abduction from his home in Lahore, Pakistan.

Weinstein, 70, had been in Pakistan for the last four years working for U.S. government-funded development company J.E Austin Associates, where he served as chief of party on the Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness, according to an online Express Tribune article published Aug. 14.

On Aug 13, Weinstein was taken at gunpoint from his house after a gang of gunmen barged through his back door, according to the article. Pakistani police and government officials have continued to search for him but have failed to find any leads concerning his whereabouts, according to the article.

Police said the kidnapping was carried out meticulously, and so far no parties have claimed responsibility or demanded any ransom, a development which officials find worrisome, according to an ABC News article published Aug. 24.

Three suspects were arrested after investigators tracked their cellphone numbers, according to the article. The men were natives of Punjabi, the area where Weinstein was staying and an area not usually associated with violence, according to the article.

Subho Basu, a professor of South Asian history at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said Pakistan’s current political and social state are unstable, and the country is losing its grip. He said that within such a weak and fragmented country, abduction is not unheard of, especially of someone involved in social or economic development.

‘It is much more dangerous for people who are independent civilians in the rural areas, who are trying to work on development and mingling with the local people, trying to do something — these people are very vulnerable and even prone to violence,’ Basu said. ‘But if you are a security personnel or tied to the state department, then there is protection that your country can offer.’

Weinstein taught in the political science department at SUNY-Oswego from approximately 1970 to 1977, said Julie Blissert, director of public affairs at SUNY-Oswego. He specialized in African affairs, and in the early 1970s, he participated in several seminars on African and European affairs at the U.S. State Department, Blissert said.

At Oswego, he served on the editorial board of the journal African Studies Review and regularly contributed to several journals on African affairs. He also served as a consultant for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, edited a collection of essays on Chinese and Soviet aid to African countries and wrote a monograph on political development and ethnic strife in Rwanda and Burundi, Blissert said.

‘He had left Oswego to go to work for the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he worked on behalf of people in developing countries,’ Blissert said. ‘He concentrated on economic development.’

Bruce Altschuler, a political science professor at SUNY-Oswego, said that upon his arrival at Oswego, Weinstein served as a senior member of the department.

‘He was very welcoming to me, even putting me up at his house when I came to Oswego to look for an apartment,’ Altschuler said. ‘Warren was a well-regarded professor.’

meltagou@syr.edu

Published on September 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Marwa: meltagou@syr.edu | @marwaeltagouri