I slamabad: Abducted health manager of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Dr Khalil Rasjad was murdered by Balochistan’s banned outfit Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), sources told saach.tv.
Sources privy to the assassination plot revealed that abductors of the deceased doctor had demanded a ransom of Rs 200 million from ICRC.
According to sources, ICRC emphatically refused to pay the ransom, saying that such a measure was beyond the scope of its mandate.
“They (ICRC) remained in contact with the BLA for a quite long time but due to limited mandate they could not meet the demands,” said the sources.
The kidnappers had also asked for the issue of Balochistan to be highlighted by the humanitarian organization, sources added.
Dr Khalil Rasjad’s beheaded body was recovered near Quettaon April 29. He was abducted in January this year. Though the letter found with his deceased body said that local Taliban group was behind his abduction and murder, sources insist that BLA was behind the inhuman act.
When saach.tv approached Mr Najam us Saqib, spokesperson ICRC Pakistan, he refused to comment on the identity of abductors.
“We are concerned about the security of our staff, so cannot comment on this highly sensitive issue,” said Najam.
When asked whether he refused to acknowledge that ICRC was in contact with the abductors, he said “ICRC was in contact with the local stakeholders, who were in touch with the abductors.”
It is noteworthy that when saach.tv talked to Mr Najam on April 29, he accepted that ICRC was in contact with the abductors.
When asked about the demands of kidnappers, he refused to answer, saying “I cannot disclose this information as it is a very sensitive matter.”
In response to the question about the impact of this murder on ICRC’s presence inPakistan, he said the organization has reduced its presence in Balochistan, and a future plan will be devised after proper analysis of the situation.
However, when saach.tv asked the spokesperson whether it was in the mandate of ICRC to pay ransom for their employees if required, Najam said “No we do not pay ransom at all but we use different ways to get back our employees back from abductors.”
Following the murder of Dr Khalil Rasjad ICRC shut down its all relief works in Balochistan.
Using this matter as case study…Govt should ask to hand over all the dissidents like harbayar and akhtar mengal and all of them who have even took asylum in european countries.
Govt should clear it to those countries thats what these people are doing.. Killing of all foriegners and at the end of the day protecting people like these will haunt those countries..
But Alass….
Our govt is busy in passing new resolutions in assemblies and even those who think of themselvs as third time rulers of the country.. How on the earth will foreign policy will influence those countries?