World | Pakistan
Taliban releases kidnapped Pakistan envoy
Suspected Taliban militants have released Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, a government official said on Saturday.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 10:23 May 17, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Pakistani Ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin (right) embraces his son at his residence in Rawalpindi.
Islamabad: Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Tariq Azizuddin has returned safely after 96 days in the captivity of kidnappers believed to be Taliban militants, officials said on Saturday.
His return comes against a backdrop of negotiations between the government and local Taliban in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan amid indications a peace agreement was in sight.
The foreign ministry confirmed that the envoy had been recovered. "He is safe with us," ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said.
The details were not officially disclosed immediately, but security sources linked the ambassador's recovery to the recent release of a number of local Taliban by the authorities in exchange for several soldiers.
The foreign ministry said the driver and bodyguard of the envoy were also back safely. A frail-looking but happy Azizuddin arrived in Islamabad yesterday and was received by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and senior foreign ministry officials, sources said.
Along with the two others, he was abducted on February 11 in troubled Khyber Agency tribal area while travelling to Kabul by road.
According to Taliban sources the three were handed over to security officials in the tribal area after the government released 12 people in its custody, including members of the Afghan Taliban, earlier this week.
The ambassador's brother, Amran Azizuddin, said the family was told the envoy was recovered late on Friday. "All of us are extremely happy. Thank God the ordeal is over," he said.
Asfandyar Wali Khan, the chief of the Awami National Party which rules the frontier province bordering Afghanistan, welcomed the news.
He told reporters in provincial capital Peshawar that his party had no role in the release of the envoy but "we are satisfied". Khan said a peace agreement between the government and the local Taliban should be concluded "as soon as possible".
Azizuddin had appeared in a video aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya news channel weeks before in which he said he was being held by the Taliban.
He had pleaded in the video for the government and the foreign ministry "to do all they can to protect our lives and to answer all the demands of the mujahideen of Taliban in order to secure our release".
His kidnapping had followed the reported capture by Pakistani security forces of a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, in southwestern Balochistan province.
Pakistan's new coalition government held in February has vowed to pursue a multi-faceted policy with emphasis on negotiating with those who were ready to renounce violence.
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