ISLAMABAD, 26 July 2004 — Pakistan and Iraq yesterday began investigating the disappearance of two Pakistanis feared to have been kidnapped in the war-torn country as the family of one of the men appealed for his safe release.
The missing men, identified as Raja Azad, a maintenance engineer, and driver Sajjad Naeem vanished while they were returning to Baghdad at around midday Friday, officials said.
“We have learnt through our mission in Baghdad that two Pakistani men working for Al-Tamimi group of industries have disappeared,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said.
The Al-Tamimi group, a Kuwait-based group of industries whose work includes construction, had informed the Pakistani mission in Baghdad about the disappearance of the two employees early Saturday, Khan said.
“As yet no one has contacted our mission in Baghdad or sent any message or demand to our government,” the spokesman said. “We are in touch with our mission to ascertain the whereabouts of the Pakistanis,” he added.
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kahdim said the Iraqi government had also started a probe. Earlier Kahdim had said the government was not investigating the disappearance of the Pakistanis pending confirmation from Islamabad that they had been abducted.
The families of the two missing men live in Rawalkot, a tiny district in Pakistani Kashmir that is also home to former kidnap victim Amjad Hafeez, who was freed late last month.
Hafeez was abducted by a group of Iraqi insurgents who threatened to behead him but freed him after a week in response to appeals by his mother and the Pakistan government.
Missing Raja Azad’s 17-year-old son, Faisal Azad, said the entire family was in deep anguish and pain. “My mother is distressed, she has not spoken a word and she is weeping bitterly,” Faisal said. “My father is kindhearted, he has done no harm to anyone, please release him for our sake.”
Azad last spoke to his family by phone on Friday morning, a few hours before he disappeared, his brother Raja Babar said.
“The voice quality was poor and Azad said he would ring again in the evening, but he never called and later we learnt about his abduction,” he said.
Azad’s younger brother, Khurshid, who worked for the same company in Kuwait, called Babar on Saturday and told him that Azad had been kidnapped.
“Khurshid informed us that Azad had been kidnapped while on duty,” Babar quoted him as saying.
Babar said the “kidnappers should release Azad and Naeem in the name of their common religion, Islam.”
“If you are Muslims, you should not harm fellow Muslims and those who have gone there to earn livelihood for their children and families,” he added.
The Foreign Office spokesman reiterated an earlier advisory telling Pakistanis to avoid travel to Iraq. The exact number already in Iraq is not known. News of the two men’s disappearance came as Pakistan said it might consider sending troops to Iraq.
