The forgotten envoy

THE family of Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan – Tariq Azizuddin- who disappeared on February 11, appealed to his kidnappers on Saturday to free him and expressed frustration at the Government’s failure to secure his release three months after his abduction.

The very fact that the family of the envoy had to launch a direct appeal to the kidnappers is reflective of their no-trust in the so-called efforts being made by the Government to ensure his safe and secure release. We have been emphasizing in these columns that kidnapping of even an ordinary citizen should be a source of concern and his safe release should be a priority with the authorities concerned. Tariq Azizuddin is the country’s ambassador to Afghanistan but intriguingly no one knows what sort of efforts the Government is making for the purpose. Three months is a long long period for a person to be in subhuman conditions and for the Government to take meaningful action to secure his release. In the initial period, it was not known to the people of Pakistan who kidnapped him and where has he been kept but release of a video on April 19 indicated that he had been abducted by Taliban who wanted some demands to be met in exchange for his freedom. This means that the authorities concerned were in the know of things from the beginning and this is also confirmed by oft repeated statement of the Foreign Office spokesman that the issue should not be pressed too much for the safety of the ambassador. But one is constrained to believe that the Government was not taking due interest in the humanitarian issue. Mr. Tariq Azizuddin is not keeping good health and his family is also passing through a period of intense agony. Ironically, while the Indian Government officially raised the issue of two confirmed terrorists – Kashmir Singhs and Sarbajit Singh – and Pakitan showed magnanimity of releasing the former besides favourably responding to pleas for mercy for the latter, the same sort of concern is nowhere to be seen for one of the top envoys of the country. Why is it that we can succumb to pressure by India for the release of condemned prisoners but cannot negotiate release of an important personality? We would urge the Government to ensure his early release even if it means swapping of wanted men, as there are precedents of doing so even by the world powers.