PAKISTAN’S ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber region, appeared on Arabic television Saturday saying he was being held by the Taliban and urged Islamabad to meet their demands.

Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing.

“We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban,” the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks.

“I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains,” said the bespectacled and gray-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region.

Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the ambassador’s disappearance highlighted instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The Pakistani Government had not publicly confirmed he had been kidnapped but a senior government official said Saturday Azizuddin was being held by militants who were demanding the release of their arrested colleagues.

The ambassador was on his way to Kabul from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Feb. 11 when he disappeared along with his driver and bodyguard in the Khyber tribal region.

Azizuddin said he, his driver and bodyguard had been held for 27 days at the time the tape was filmed.

(SD-Agencies)

PAKISTAN’S ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber region, appeared on Arabic television Saturday saying he was being held by the Taliban and urged Islamabad to meet their demands.

Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing.

“We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban,” the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks.

“I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains,” said the bespectacled and gray-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region.

Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the ambassador’s disappearance highlighted instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The Pakistani Government had not publicly confirmed he had been kidnapped but a senior government official said Saturday Azizuddin was being held by militants who were demanding the release of their arrested colleagues.

The ambassador was on his way to Kabul from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Feb. 11 when he disappeared along with his driver and bodyguard in the Khyber tribal region.

Azizuddin said he, his driver and bodyguard had been held for 27 days at the time the tape was filmed.

(SD-Agencies)

PAKISTAN’S ambassador to Afghanistan, who went missing in February in the Khyber region, appeared on Arabic television Saturday saying he was being held by the Taliban and urged Islamabad to meet their demands.

Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin appeared in a video tape on Al Arabiya television surrounded by armed militants to make his first public statement since going missing.

“We were kidnapped by mujahideen from the Taliban,” the ambassador, wearing an open-necked shirt and looking calm, said in the remarks.

“I suffer health problems such as high blood pressure and heart pains,” said the bespectacled and gray-bearded ambassador, who gestured to his armed captors in an arid, hilly region.

Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and the ambassador’s disappearance highlighted instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

The Pakistani Government had not publicly confirmed he had been kidnapped but a senior government official said Saturday Azizuddin was being held by militants who were demanding the release of their arrested colleagues.

The ambassador was on his way to Kabul from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Feb. 11 when he disappeared along with his driver and bodyguard in the Khyber tribal region.

Azizuddin said he, his driver and bodyguard had been held for 27 days at the time the tape was filmed.

(SD-Agencies)