31 October 2004	Sunday	16 Ramazan 1425

DHAKA, Oct 30: The government of Bangladesh could not establish any direct or indirect contact with kidnappers of a Bangladeshi driver in Iraq till Saturday night.

Foreign affairs minister, M Morshed Khan, once again appealed the abductors to release him. "On behalf of 140 million Muslims of Bangladesh, I appeal to those who have abducted the poor truck driver to release him in this holy month of Ramazan," Morshed Khan told the reporters in Dhaka.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Ambassador to Kuwait Nazrul Islam Khan informed the foreign ministry that the hostage was Abul Kashem Faruk, son of the late Abdul Hadi of the village Jitpur in the Sonagazi upazila of Feni.

The 43-year old truck driver was working for a Kuwaiti transport company called al-Jaseem since 1998. The company transport supplies for the US troops in Iraq, said officials of the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry.

However, it could not be confirmed whether or not the Islamic Army in Iraq had taken Faruk hostage. No group had yet contacted Bangladeshi missions anywhere in the world about the abduction either.

"We are not sure yet as to who has done it. No one has come to us with any kind of demand or condition for release of the Bangladeshi driver," Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan told journalists at his office on Saturday afternoon.

The minister also said that the ambassador had also been directed to contact the US command in Kuwait for the whereabouts of Faruk and possible measures for his release.

Asked about any assistance from international agencies in mediating release of the hostage, the minister said the International Red Cross and Red Crescent and the International Organisation for Migration had already been requested for help.

The foreign minister said the government had warned Bangladeshi citizens against visiting Iraq before the US invasion.