Greece blames Pakistan for kidnapping of its citizen

CHITRAL, 29 Sep 09:  The Greek ambassador  in Pakistan has blamed the Ministry of interior for the Kidnap of its citizen from Kafristan valley Chitral, says a news story in daily 'The Nation'. the story is reproduced verbatim below:

ISLAMABAD - Greece Tuesday blamed Pakistan for the kidnapping of its citizen Athanasius Lerounis from Chitral on September 8 that might prompt the European Union missions in Pakistan to make it a common case for Islamabad to tackle.

"Ministry of Interior is directly responsible for kidnapping of Lerounis", Greece Ambassador Petros Mavroidis told TheNation.

The Greek Envoy did not share more details about efforts seeking to secure safe release of the Greek volunteer allegedly being held hostage by a group of Afghan Taliban.

"This is a very sensitive matter. I do not want to comment more on it", said the Greek Ambassador.
Asked whether Greek authorities had also approached the Afghan government for help as kidnappers have shifted the Greek volunteer to Afghanistan, the ambassador said, "that is another issue".

Meanwhile, when contacted, neither Secretary Interior Qamar Zaman nor official spokesman of the Ministry were available for their comments.

However, a senior security forces official told TheNation that Pakistan was making serious efforts on its own to secure safe release of the Greek engineer who has been shifted to Afghanistan, thus putting more responsibility on Afghan authorities.

"Since there is no effective mechanism to check cross border movements between Afghanistan and Pakistan, our lone efforts to secure safe release of the Greek volunteer might not bear fruits", official said while speaking on condition of anonymity.

--------------------------