Relatives of kidnapped Pakistanis appeal for their release
Islamabad (AsiaNews) - "I appeal to those who have kidnapped my son to release him. They are Muslims and we are also Muslims. They should release my son", said Zarina Akhtar, the mother of Sajid Naeem, one of the Pakistanis kidnapped by militants in Iraq.
Two men, Raja Azad, 49, an engineer, and Sajad Naeem, 29, a driver, were declared missing in Iraq on Friday, July 23. In a video broadcast by Arabic language Al-Jazeera television station on Monday, July 26, several identity cards were shown, apparently belonging to the hostages. The group calling itself Islamic Army in Iraq said the men were employees of the Kuwait-based al-Tamimi group in Baghdad.
The parents of a Pakistani truck driver pleaded for the hostage takers to spare their son's life and set him free. "If they release him, he will leave Iraq. He will not work there," said Mohammed Naeem, 56, the father of Sajid Naeem. Perveen Kausar, 40, the wife of Raja Azad, the other Pakistani taken hostage in Iraq, pleaded for her husband's release. "We don't know where he is. But if he is kidnapped, he should be freed," said tearful Kausar. "He has done nothing wrong. He had gone to Iraq to earn money for the family." They also appealed to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain to make sure the appropriate measures for the unscathed release of the captives.
Meanwhile, Ansar Burney, the human and civil rights lawyer, has requested the captors for the release of the two Pakistani hostages immediately. In a statement issued at Islamabad, chief of the Ansar Burney Welfare Trust International and Prisoners Aid Society said his organization is ready to pay any ransom to buy their freedom if demanded. Ansar Burney requested terrorists not to behead any innocent.
Amjad Hafeez, a driver kidnapped last June, urged President Pervez Musharraf to close the Pakistani Embassy in Iraq and to ban all Pakistanis from coming to Iraq. He appealed to his countrymen not to come to work in Iraq.
However Pakistani Prime Minister said, that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (SA) will develop a consensus over the matter of sending troops to Iraq after consultations with other Muslim countries after returning his four days official tour from Saudi Arabia. (QF)
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