ISLAMABAD: With President Pervez Musharraf giving strict orders that efforts should be redoubled to recover immediately Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul Tariq Azizuddin, the Foreign Office says that the diplomat is alive and no effort is being spared to recover him and others with him.
“Yes, I’m sure and hope that he is alive. We also hope Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin is safe and secure and every effort is being made but then he is still missing and we have no further information,” said a tight-lipped spokesman at the Foreign Office during the weekly press briefing.
The media, both print and electronic, was not interested in any other issue but the abducted ambassador, a fact not lost on the spokesman who commented: “He is a friend to a lot of you in this room and he is a dear colleague, so all of us are equally concerned.”
To countless queries, the spokesman said that so far no group had contacted the government regarding a swap or a demand from those who had abducted the ambassador. “No one contacted the government and neither has anyone claimed responsibility. All of us are equally concerned and every effort is being made to locate him. Several foreign governments have called to express concern and record their sympathy but at this stage we do not need any help,” said the spokesman.
Several queries were raised as to why the government had not advised its senior envoy to travel by air, especially given the fact that security was non-existent and several key kidnappings had occurred in the area.
“For the last 25 years, all Pakistani diplomats travelling to and from Afghanistan took this road through Torkham. Even foreign diplomats use this route and it is nothing new. All necessary precautions were taken and the standard precautionary methods were in place,” the spokesman told a questioner who wanted to know why under these circumstances the government had not issued fresh dictates to use air travel.
The spokesman, for reasons of security, refrained from commenting on reports about the ambassador’s car being seen in Tirah. Asked as to why when the envoy’s car was not stopping, officials did not chase it after they had sensed foul play. “I know this is frustrating (not giving direct replies) but for reasons of security we are not commenting,” he added.
When questioned again what gave the government confidence that the ambassador was alive, he replied: “My opinion is that he is alive.” The spokesman said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will establish an Election Information Cell to assist the International Elections Observers from Feb.16-19.
DG Europe Muhammad Nafees Zakaria will observe the Cell, which will function round the clock. The spokesman took exception to a news report that no important international observer was coming to monitor Pakistan’s general elections.
“Senator John Kerry and other congressmen and members of the British parliament amongst others will be arriving to observe the elections. I’m sure the congressmen will be very unhappy to learn that they are unimportant,” was the comment from the spokesman.
Five hundred foreign observers who will be present to observe the elections have been strengthened by eight from a Pakistani association in the US and four from Safma. Around five hundred foreign media persons will also be in Pakistan.
The spokesman said that Pakistan’s acute energy needs made the pipeline vital and it would go ahead with the project whether India joined it or not. Pakistan welcomes the interest that China has shown to join the project. He said that Pakistan had no objection to the reported Indo-Russian nuclear cooperation. “We have no objection to legal cooperation”, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is hosting the third Regional Economic Conference (RECCA) on Afghanistan in Islamabad on March 26-27. All members of the Afghan Compact are included in RECCA.
A back-to-back business conference will also be organised jointly by the Board of Investment of Pakistan, the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency.
The Islamabad conference is likely to be attended by more than 300 participants from 20 regional countries, G-8 countries and international/ regional organisations, like the World Bank, the UN, the ADB, the ECO, the SCO, and CARE, etc.
We have not kidnapped Pak envoy: Taliban
Taliban militants said on Wednesday they would not attack next week’s general election and denied involvement in the disappearance of the country’s ambassador to neighbouring Afghanistan.
“Our central leadership have decided that as we have nothing to do with the elections, therefore, there would be no attacks from our people,” Pakistan Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar told Reuters. “Neither do we support the process of the election nor do we have any opposition to it and if any attack takes place before or on election day, our Mujahid would not be involved in it,” he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul who went missing two days ago on his way to the Afghan capital from the Peshawar. “We have no links with it. We do not know anything about that,” Omar said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it had no further information on the case and again denied media reports that the Taliban had demanded the release of captured Afghan Taliban commander Mullah Mansour Dadullah in exchange for the envoy.
End.
SOURCE: PAKTRIBUNE
No comments:
Post a Comment