Pakistan taking all possible steps for hostage release - minister
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, April 14, IRNA
Pakistan-Hostage
Pakistan said that all possible measures were being taken to get its Baghdad-based embassy official released from captives.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Wednesday that the government was taking all possible steps to get Javed Malik freed.
"We are in contact with the Iraqi government and the religious leaders and they are saying they are doing their best and are hopeful of the release of the hostage," the minister was quoted as saying in local press on Thursday.
Malik went missing on Saturday and the government believes that he has been abducted for ransom.
The minister was optimistic about securing the hostage safe and sound.
In July last year, insurgents kidnapped two other Pakistanis, Raja Azad an engineer, and Sajad Naeem, a driver in Iraq. Both were killed July 28. They were working for a Kuwait company in Iraq.
The kidnappers asked Pakistan to promise not to send troops to Iraq.
Despite requests by the United States, Pakistan has refused to send troops to Iraq.
In June of last year, Iraqi gunmen kidnapped and threatened to behead another Pakistani, Amjad Hafeez, but he was later freed.
Pakistan has asked its citizens not to travel to Iraq after the murder of its nationals in Iraq.
UN envoy to Iraq Ashraf Jahangir Qazi is a Pakistani national.
MHA/TSH/2322/1432
::IRNA No.032 14/04/2005 13:47 --End
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