The Hindu : International : Pakistan rejects Iraqi militants' demand

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004

International

International

Pakistan rejects Iraqi militants' demand

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 28. Pakistan has said that it would not accede to the demands of the abductors of its citizen in Iraq, as a matter of policy.

Asked to comment on the reports of seizure of the Pakistani national, Amjad Hafeez — a resident of Rawalakot in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir — a Foreign Office spokesman said, "The Government of Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of all forms of terrorism and reaffirms that its policy is not to accede to conditions or demands put forth by any hostage-takers".

He said Pakistan was making all efforts for the earliest release of its national and the country's Liaison Mission in Baghdad had been instructed to find out his whereabouts and make all possible efforts for his release.

"The Liaison Mission has been in contact with the Iraqi authorities and religious leaders to secure the release of Mr. Hafeez, a driver employed in Kuwait who was ferrying supplies to Balad," the spokesman said.

Given the prevailing security situation in Iraq, the spokesman also reiterated an earlier advisory to Pakistani nationals to avoid travelling to that country.

Marine shown on video

AP reports from West Jordan, Utah:

The family of a U.S. Marine began an anguished wait as images surfaced from across the world showing him held by Iraqi captors and threatened with decapitation. The family of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun issued a brief statement late on Sunday, confirming that he was the American soldier shown blindfolded with a sword held over his head. Cpl. Hassoun is a Muslim of West Asian origin.

``In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate, we accept destiny with its good and its bad,'' a family friend and spokesman, Tarek Nosseir, said outside the family's home. The Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera broadcast the videotape of Cpl. Hassoun by a militant group threatening to behead him if the U.S. military did not release all prisoners.

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