MANILA, Aug 2: Pakistan said on Thursday it had no influence over the Taliban holding 21 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, stressing it was at war with the militia and Al Qaeda elements within its own borders.

The Afghan government has repeatedly accused Pakistan of failing to stop militants crossing their common border, but Pakistan insisted at an Asian security conference here that it had no leverage over the hard line militia.

“Pakistan itself is a victim of such incidents,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar said after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon.

Pakistan would like to help, Mr Bakhtyar said, but was at war with Taliban and Al Qaeda elements at home, he said.

“Naturally we have no lines of communication with the Taliban,” he said.

Envoy meets Fazl: Meanwhile, a South Korean presidential envoy met Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and MMA leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Islamabad on Thursday to plead for help in securing the release of the hostages.

Baek Jong-chun was in Islamabad after spending a week in Afghanistan where he met President Hamid Karzai to discuss the fate of the hostages.

The Korean envoy refused to talk to reporters after meeting with Maulana Fazl, and his aides requested a media blackout to avoid further problems for the hostages.

But, the MMA leader later told reporters that Mr Baek had asked for his help in securing their safe release.

“I have already issued an appeal to those who are holding the hostages, and today again I am issuing a second appeal to them, that (they) please release them, they were on a medical mission there, not for fighting,” the Maulana said.

He said the Korean envoy told him that his would complete the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan ahead of the announced schedule at the end of this year.

Earlier, Mr Baek met the interior minister and senior security officials to request their help in ending the crisis, officials said.—AFP