Militants free Pakistani government workers

Islamabad, May 23: Suspected Islamist militants have released eight Pakistani government development workers abducted last week in a tribal region on the Afghan border, a senior official said today.

The workers, including five women, were kidnapped on Friday evening while visiting sites for aid projects in North Waziristan, where the government signed a controversial peace deal aimed at ending militant violence last September.

''They released the hostages yesterday night in Bannu and all of them are well,'' said the security chief for the tribal region, Arbab Arif, referring to a city bordering North Waziristan.

The hostages were released because of pressure on the kidnappers from tribesmen in the area, he said.

''They released them on their own. We don't know their motive nor did they demand anything from us,'' Arif said.

One of the released workers declined to comment.

''We don't have permission to comment. First, we'll meet our seniors and then they will tell you what you want to know,'' said the released worker, Zair Mohammad Wazir.

Many foreign al Qaeda members took refuge in North and neighbouring South Waziristan after US-led forces toppled the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001.

Beginning in 2003, Pakistani security forces launched offensives in the region as part of the US-led war on terrorism.

But the government later struck peace deals aimed at reinvigorating traditional powers of leaders of the ethnic Pashtun tribes, which inhabit both sides of the border, and isolating the militants.

Critics say the pacts have given the militants free rein and have let them expand their influence. The pacts have also led to growing doubts in the United States about Pakistan's commitment to the US-led war on terrorism.

Reuters>