Pakistani consul kidnapped
2005-04-10 09:28
Baghdad - The Pakistani consul in Baghdad was kidnapped, becoming the latest victim of Iraq's kidnapping scourge.
The newly-elected parliament was due to meet on Sunday, a day after tens of thousands of people joined demonstrations on the second anniversary of Saddam Hussein's downfall to demand that US troops leave the country.
Pakistani consul Malik Mohamed Javed went missing after evening prayers on Saturday in the western Amariya district of the capital, Pakistan's charge d'affaires Mohamed Iftikhar Anjum told AFP.
"We don't have any information on what happened to him," he said.
Police confirmed the consul had disappeared in the neighbourhood, an area considered sympathetic to Iraq's deadly insurgency.
About 200 foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq since last April when twin Shiite-Sunni uprisings shook the country and insurgents and criminals started to use kidnapping as a political tool.
Three Romanian journalists and their Iraqi-American guide were kidnapped on March 28 on the outskirts of Baghdad.
French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi translator Hussein Hanun al-Saadi remain missing three months after their abduction in Baghdad.
Abductions have been a hazard of daily life for ordinary Iraqis since the fall of Baghdad to the Americans exactly two years ago.
Kidnappers will snatch family members and ransom them for thousands of dollars, forcing relatives to sell off their life savings to obtain their loved one's freedom.
Meanwhile, Iraq's newly-elected parliament was due to meet for its sixth session on Sunday.
The 275-seat assembly, dominated by a Shiite religious alliance, was expected to raise a motion to condemn the alleged corruption of the outgoing government headed by secular politician Iyad Allawi.
'Cut off their necks'
Newly designated prime minister, Shiite fundamentalist Ibrahim al-Jaafari, was continuing to put together a new government cabinet more than two months after the watershed January 30 elections that saw millions brave the threat of violence to vote.
Eager to exert its influence on the new assembly, radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's followers upped the pressure on Jaafari and the election-winning Shiite parliament bloc, with a massive demonstration on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of Shiite protestors poured into central Baghdad to demand that US troops leave Iraq on the second anniversary of Saddam Hussein's downfall.
Chanting "No, no, USA," followers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr converged on Firdus Square, where US troops helped Iraqis pull down a huge statue of Saddam.
The rally, organised by Sadr, was believed to be the largest demonstration since US troops entered the country in March 2003.
"O God, cut off their necks, the way they are cutting off our necks and terrorising us," said Sadr representative Sheikh Nasir al-Saaidi, reading a speech from his boss.