World | Pakistan
Missing Pakistani ambassador held by Taliban
Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan who went missing in February appeared in a video on Al Arabiya television on Saturday saying he was being held by Taliban militants and urged his government to meet their demands.
- Reuters
- Published: 14:30 April 19, 2008
Dubai: Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan who went missing in February appeared in a video on Al Arabiya television on Saturday saying he was being held by Taliban militants and urged his government to meet their demands.
Tariq Azizuddin appeared in the tape surrounded by armed militants. His remarks, in which he said he was suffering health problems, were translated into Arabic by Arabiya.
The broadcast appeared to be his first public statement since vanishing in February.
Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years and the ambassador's disappearance highlighted continuing instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan - a key ally in the US-led crackdown on militants.
The ambassador went missing on his way to the Afghan capital from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
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