Pakistan condemns killing of hostages in Iraq
Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Pakistan has condemned the reported killing of two of its nationals held hostage in Iraq. The two hostages were Sajid Naeem, a 29-year-old driver, and Azad Hussein Khan, a 49-year-old maintenance engineer
The president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and Prime Minister Chaudary Shujaat received the news "with great distress and anguish," said Akram Shaheedi, a spokesman for the Pakistani government in Islamabad.
"Their hearts go out in sympathy to the bereaved families and they share their grief and sorrow along with millions of Pakistanis. Those who have committed this crime have caused the greatest harm both to humanity and Islam.
After the announcement of the death of the two, Pakistani Foreign Ministry Spokesman Masood Kahn called it "a horrendous crime that these people have committed against innocent people and against a nation."
"They were poor migrant workers; they had nothing to do with international politics.
The hostage takers apparently made a "unilateral determination that these two Pakistanis were working for the Americans, or were spying for the Americans," he said.
"We regret this gruesome and wanton murders. The whole country has gone into mourning over this news... It is a crime against humanity, it has no connection with the cause of those who committed it," Mr Khan said.
Al-Jazeera late on Wednesday reported an armed group holding the two Pakistanis had announced their killings.
The group, which calls itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, distributed a video showing their bodies, the Qatar-based channel said, adding however it would not air the footage "out of respect for viewers' feelings".
The same group announced it had released an Iraqi driver also held captive amid a spate of hostage-taking by Iraqi militants "after it became apparent that he had been deluded and repented," the television channel said.
The father of Naeem had earlier urged his captors to "feel the pain of a fellow Muslim" and free him. "I appeal to them to release my son, because they are also Muslims and a Muslim can feel the pain of a fellow Muslim," Muhammad Naeem Khan said.
The militants holding them said the pair had been working for US forces in Iraq, and cited statements by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf about sending troops to the war-torn country.
Pakistan, an Islamic republic, has said it would consider sending troops to protect a future UN mission in Baghdad, but only if Iraqi authorities invited them and its own parliament approved such a move.
Islamabad refused a request by Washington last year to send troops to Iraq.
The kidnapping was the second of Pakistanis in Iraq in a month.
Late June, driver Amjad Hafeez was abducted but released after a week in captivity in response to appeals by his mother and the Pakistani government.
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20/10/2004
