The distraught mother of a local citizen kidnapped in Iraq and threatened with execution begged his captors on Monday to release him, saying he had done nothing wrong.
Fighting back tears, Saeeda Jehan told Reuters she did not own a television, and only found out about Amjad Hafeez's capture when relatives informed her and showed her the video footage broadcast by Pakistani channels.
"Hell descended on me when I heard the news," she said at her sister's house in the scenic, mountain village of Panyola, located inAzad Kashmir about 70 kilometres north-east of Islamabad.
"I could not think straight."
Wearing traditional shalwar kameez and a scarf over her head, the 45-year-old appealed to Hafeez's captors to set him free.
"I appeal to the captors to release him in the name of humanity," she cried, as male relatives sought to comfort her by saying her son would be freed.
"They are Muslims and we are also Muslims," she said, speaking in Pahari, a dialect of Punjabi spoken by people in eastern Pakistan. "They have mothers too; they should feel the pain and agony of a mother and release him."
The kidnappers had said that they would behead the captive if Iraqi prisoners being held in jails, including Baghdad's Abu Ghraib, were not released.
The hostage also made a plea to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US war on terror, to shut down the Pakistani embassy in Iraq.
Hafeez's uncle, Mohammad Razzaq Khan told Reuters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, "He is the eldest son and the sole breadwinner for his family."
Meanwhile, Pakistan said it would not bow to the demands of the captors, who said they seized Hafeez in Balad, north of Baghdad.
"This Pakistani driver was employed by a company in Kuwait to ferry food supplies into Iraq," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
"(Our) liaison officer in Iraq is in touch with Iraqi authorities and the religious leaders to try to secure his (Hafeez) release.
"The government of Pakistan has a stand that we condemn all forms of terrorism and we have our policy that we don't accede to any conditions or demands made by hostage-takers."
A Foreign Ministry statement reiterated an earlier advisory telling Pakistani nationals to avoid travelling to Iraq.
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