UN seeks HRCP help

REPOTED BY BALOCHMEDIA.COM


QUETTA - THE United Nations approached the private Human Rights Commission ofPakistan (HRCP) on Thursday for help in securing the release of a kidnappedAmerican official, the commission said. A two-member UN team met with HRCPrepresentatives in the eastern city of Lahore and expressed concern about thekidnapping of John Solecki, senior HRCP member I.A. Rehman said.They came to us as friends, they wanted us to take interest in securing hisrelease,' Mr Rehman told AFP from his Lahore residence.UN officials were not immediately available for comment.Mr Solecki, head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Quetta, the capital ofsouth-western Pakistan's restive province of Baluchistan, was abducted atgunpoint on Feb 2 while travelling to work. His driver was killed in the ambush.The shadowy Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), which claims to beholding Mr Solecki, has demanded the release of 141 women Baluch detainees theysay are in Pakistani custody, and information about 6,000 men 'missing' inoperations to put down Baluchistan's insurgency.The kidnappers on Monday said they had extended a 72-hour deadline for thegovernment to meet demands for Mr Solecki's release.Hundreds of people have died in insurgent unrest in Baluchistan since 2004, whenrebels rose up demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits fromthe province's rich natural resources.The UN team handed over the BLUF list and also asked the commission's help intracking down the missing people, Mr Rehman said.Mr Solecki's is the most high-profile Western kidnapping in Pakistan since 2002,when US journalist Daniel Pearl was snatched and beheaded by Al-Qaeda militants.A grainy video released by the kidnappers and shown on Pakistani televisionchannels last Friday showed a blindfolded Mr Solecki appealing to the UnitedNations for his release and saying he was unwell.

Pakistani captors: U.N. hostage will die

QUETTA, Pakistan, -- A Pakistani militant group holding an American working forthe United Nations says it will kill the hostage in four days if its demands arenot met.The previously unknown group, The Balochistan Liberation United Front, said in aletter John Solecki, 49, will die unless 1,109 people it says are missing andbeing held by Pakistani security agencies are released, GEO TV reported Monday.Solecki, who heads the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees insouthwestern Balochistan province, was kidnapped in the provincial capital ofQuetta Feb. 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and killed the driver, thebroadcaster said.The militant group had earlier demanded U.N. intervention to secure the releaseof 141 women it said were being held in Pakistani torture cells in exchange forSolecki, and has also demanded information about more than 6,000 missing personsas well and resolution of the issue of Baloch independence, Asian NewsInternational reported.http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/02/Pakistani_captors_UN_hostage_will_die/UPI-46031236011937/

Former beauty queen detained in Iran

A freelance journalist has been arrested in Iran and has had no contact with herfamily since early February, according to reports. National Public Radio and FoxNews reported that Roxana Saberi, 31, who was born in the United States, hadbeen arrested in late January on a charge of buying alcohol."She called from an unknown place and said she's been kept in detention," herfather, Reza Saberi, told NPR. He said she had been in detention for 10 days atthat point."She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it hadreported it and then they came and arrested her," he said, adding that it wasjust an excuse to arrest her.Reza Saberi told Fox that when she called on February 10, his daughter asked herparents not to tell anyone about her detention, which is why they had notdiscussed it until now.At the time she said she expected to be released within two to three days,Saberi said.Roxana Saberi, a former Miss North Dakota, is a US national who also holds anIranian passport because her father was born in Iran.She had been living in Iran for six years, working as a journalist and pursuinga master's degree in Iranian studies and international relations, NPR reported.Iran revoked Saberi's press credentials more than a year ago, but the governmenttolerated her reporting short news stories out of Iran, NPR said.Her father said she was planning to move back to the United States later thisyear.

9 killed, 12 injured in Pakistan mine collapse

REPORTED BY JUMA BALOCH


Balochistan: At least nine miners were killed and 12 others injured when a coalmine collapsed after a blast in Balochistan province today. The blast occurredin Sorenj Coal Field, 20 km east of Quetta. About 20 miners were extracting coalfrom a shallow seam at the time of the explosion, a police spokesman said. Nineminers were killed instantly while the others sustained burn injuries.A large number of residents of the area, aid workers and rescue teams of themines department rushed to the mine soon after the blast and helped rescue theminers.The coal mine is run by the state-owned Pakistan Mineral DevelopmentCorporation. Rich in mineral wealth, Balochistan is hit by an insurgency whichis blamed on nationalist tribesmen.They have been demanding more jobs and royalties from the region's rich naturalresources. Many people have died in the violence since 2004.