Greece blames Pakistan for kidnapping of its citizen

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.
A delegation led by former union council nazim Abdul Majid from Chitral had recently visited Afghanistans Nooristan province and met the Greek engineer in Taleban custody.
The delegation on return had reported that the Greek volunteer was being kept in Kamdesh area and was safe and sound.
The Afghan kidnappers had tied freedom of the Greek engineer to payment of $2 million as well as release of three important Taliban leaders including Ubaidullah Akhund, a former defence minister in the Mullah Omars government, Mulla Yasir and Qari Rehmatuddin.
The Greek hostage had also sent a letter through Pakistani delegation saying he was living with a group of Taliban. They are very hospitable and try their best for my life and security. The behaviour of Taliban to me is very good, the letter said.
He also thanked all those who are trying their best to solve his problem, especially Mr Majid and Mr Nasir who had come to Nooristan to visit him.
He also urged the delegation to inform his relatives, members of the Greek Volunteers (NGO) and his embassy in Islamabad about his plight.
Athanasius Lerounis has been actively engaged in development of the Kalash since 1994 and carried out a number of projects in health and education sectors, besides preserving the Kalash culture.