Missing Pakistani appears in video

Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan appeared on a video aired Saturday by an Arab satellite channel, saying he was kidnapped by Taliban militants more than two months ago.

Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin, flanked by his driver and his bodyguard, was shown sitting on the ground amid green brush in front of three masked men wearing traditional robes and holding automatic weapons.

“For 27 days, we have lived comfortably. . . . They take care of us and they respect us,” Azizuddin said, in comments dubbed over in Arabic. The roughly two-minute clip appeared on Al Arabiya television.

Azizuddin went missing Feb. 11 near Pakistan’s volatile border with Afghanistan. His reference to having been held for 27 days suggests that the video was made more than a month ago.

Azizuddin urged Pakistan’s ambassadors in Iran and China, as well as the country’s Foreign Ministry, to comply with Taliban demands. He did not elaborate.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it was studying the footage, but would not comment on whether it had received any specific demands from Azizuddin’s kidnappers.

Pakistani authorities have said Azizuddin was heading to the Afghan capital, Kabul, from the northwestern Pakistani town of Peshawar when he went missing.

Later Saturday, a Pakistani Taliban militant group called Tehrik-i-Taliban denied involvement in the kidnapping.