Kidnapped UN official released in Pakistan

Kidnapped UN official released in Pakistan
By Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 5 2009 07:31 | Last updated: April 5 2009 07:31
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3bce3abe-21ab-11de-8380-00144feabdc0.html


A UN official kidnapped in south-western Pakistan two months ago was released on Sunday by the militant group that abducted him, Pakistani government officials said.

John Solecki, a US national who worked for the UN’s High Commission for Refugees was kidnapped on February 2 in an attack in which his driver was killed.

Pakistani government officials said he was kidnapped by a nationalist group known as the BLUF or Baluchistan Liberation United Front, which operates mainly from the south-western Baluchistan province that straddles Iran to the west, Afghanistan to the north and the Arabian sea to its south.

In return for Mr Solecki’s release, his kidnappers demanded the release of more than 100 militants arrested during a military campaign to quell an insurgency in Baluchistan just three years ago and now in custody of the Pakistani government.

It was not immediately clear if any of these militants were released, though western diplomatic sources said it was unlikely that Mr Solecki won his freedom without a trade-off of some kind.

In a statement after Mr Solecki’s release, Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees said: “I am particularly grateful to everyone who has worked so hard to secure John’s release, including UN and UNHCR security staff, Baluchi leaders who have provided consistent support and the Pakistani authorities”.

The kidnapping once again puts the spotlight on conditions in Baluchistan, the largest of Pakistan’s four provinces, but also the least developed and the most sparsely populated. Holding Pakistan’s largest gas reserves, Baluchistan has been at the centre of unrest for almost 40 years.

In the early 1970s, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the late prime minister, ordered a large scale military campaign to tackle an insurgency led by nationalist leaders in Baluchistan who tried to create a separate state. That insurgency was brutally suppressed, though periodic efforts by nationalists to demand greater economic rights have been a recurring theme of politics in the region.

After the New York terrorist attacks prompted the US to launch a military campaign in Afghanistan, a large number of Taliban militants including some of their top leaders crossed over to Baluchistan. Western officials have said Baluchistan has become host to a growing Taliban presence which has used the area to stage cross-border attacks on western forces in Afghanistan.

“John Solecki’s kidnapping was evidence of how bad conditions have become in Baluchistan,” said one western diplomat in Islamabad. “Unless there is a strong push to take charge of this province, throw out the Taliban, the government will just not be able to take full control of Baluchistan.”