Kidnapped UN official appeals for his release

QUETTA - The Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) on Friday released video and photographs along with the message of UNHCR's official John Solecki who was kidnapped on February 2. "If our demands were not accepted within 72 hours, we would kill (American) UN official," BLUF warned in a letter and a video of Solecki, which was sent to offices of a news agency. List of 141 Baloch women, who were allegedly arrested by security forces, was also attached with the letter. "We would soon send list of 6,000 men who are behind bars and if our demands were not accepted, we would kill UNHCR official John Solecki," letter said. UNHCR official John Solecki, in his message in the video, said he is not feeling well. In the video, he made a passionate appeal that the demands of the kidnappers must be accepted so that he was released. It may be mentioned that a new organisation with name of Baloch Liberation United Front had claimed responsibility for the abduction of UNHCR official and presented its demands for his release on February 7th. AFP adds: Solecki was apparently shown in a video aired by a local television on Friday, calling for his release. The video, broadcast by private channel, shows close up the face of a blindfolded man, apparently that of John Solecki. "This is a message to the United Nations. I am not feeling well, I am sick and in trouble. Please help solve the problems soon so I can gain my release," the person says. It was not apparently clear if he was speaking under threat. The TV channel announced that the video was shot on a mobile phone and delivered on a memory card to the television station. It was not immediately clear when the video was taken. The channel said the BLUF, which claimed Solecki's abduction in a telephone call to local media, demanded the release of 141 women Baloch detainees apparently in custody within 72 hours. The shadowy group also demanded to know the whereabouts of 6,000 young men whom they said went missing during military operations in Balochistan. Shah Nawaz, the local police official in charge of the area in Quetta where Solecki was kidnapped, had no immediate comment. "We are also watching this video tape like others," he told AFP. His abduction is the most high profile Western kidnapping in Pakistan since US journalist Daniel Pearl was snatched in 2002 and beheaded by Al-Qaeda. A spokesman for the purported kidnappers said in a recent telephone call to the local Online news agency that they snatched Solecki to draw attention to "excesses being inflicted on (the) Baloch".

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