SA men in Pakistan: No contact

2004-08-10 11:53

Johannesburg - South African officials have not yet been granted access to two South Africans being held in Pakistan, reportedly on terror accusations, the department of foreign affairs said on Tuesday.

"We have not had access yet," department spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told Sapa.

"We have asked for permission to be given access through our Foreign Ministry in Pakistan and the (Pakistan) High Commission in Pretoria, so we are waiting."

Feroze Ganchi, a doctor from Fordsburg, Johannesburg, and 20-year-old student Zubair Ismail from Laudium in Pretoria, are among about a dozen people detained after a 12-hour shootout with security forces at a house in Gujrat, south-east of Islamabad, on July 25.

A Tanzanian al-Qaeda suspect, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, is reportedly among those arrested. He is wanted by the United States for the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

"We are seeking access to them to find out their state of health and welfare and their conditions of stay," Mamoepa said. "In terms of our own laws and the Geneva Convention, we must have access."

He repeated a government and the men's family's belief that the two were not planning to attack targets in South Africa, as reported.

"We maintain our view that this is speculative."

A spokesperson for the Pakistan High Commission in South Africa was not immediately available for comment, but said last week that South African authorities would be given access once the time was "appropriate".

- SAPA