The Governor of Ghazni province of Afghanistan has accused Pakistani Taliban of working in tandem with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and holding South Korean nationals hostage.
Islamabad, Aug 5 : The Governor of Ghazni province of Afghanistan has accused Pakistani Taliban of working in tandem with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and holding South Korean nationals hostage.
"In the beginning, it was the local Taliban, but after a few days, Pakistani Taliban and ISI officers disguised as Taliban arrived in the region, and they took control of the situation," Governor Merajuddin Pattan said.
Afghan officials often accuse Pakistan's ISI of secretly supporting and harbouring Taliban insurgents.
However, Pakistan strongly denies the charge, The News reported.
Pakistani officials were not immediately available for comment on Pattan's accusation, which could spark another downturn in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Taliban militants seized 23 Korean church volunteers from a bus in Ghazni province on the main road south from Kabul on July 20.
The kidnappers have shot dead two male hostages after Kabul refused to give in to their demand and free Taliban prisoners.
Pattan, a soft-spoken US-educated economist, has been closely involved in talks between the Taliban kidnappers and an Afghan negotiating team sent from Kabul.
He said that during one telephone conversation, he had heard one of the kidnappers translating from Pashto to Urdu, Pakistan's national language.
He also noted that the kidnappers had stopped setting deadlines since South Korean presidential envoy Baek Jong-chun travelled to Islamabad to ask the Musharraf regime and political leaders such as Fazal-ur-Rehman to use their influence to obtain the hostages' release.
"I spoke to the Korean diplomats and I told them that if you want this problem to be ended very soon, please put pressure on Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, they will put pressure on the ISI," Pattan said.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, and asked for help to free the hostages.
Pattan accused ISI of trying to show Afghanistan was weak and use the hostage crisis to overshadow a Jirga between Afghan and Pakistani tribal elders next week that aims to find common ways to combat the Taliban and al Qaeda.
ANI