QUETTA, March 1: The Baloch Liberation United Front which claims to have kidnapped a UN official has threatened to kill him if its demands are not met in four days.

“It is our final deadline,” the BLUF said in a letter sent to a local news agency on Sunday night. It demanded release of 1,109 people who it says are in government custody.

John Solecki, head of UN High Commission for Refugees office in Quetta, was kidnapped on February 2.

BLUF spokesman Mir Shahiq Baloch said in the letter that the earlier deadline was extended on the appeal of Baloch leaders to give more time to the United Nations to play its role in getting arrested or missing Baloch men and women freed.

He advised John Solecki’s mother and his other relatives and friends to ask American and international human rights groups to play their role for the release of Baloch people.

He criticised Chief Minister Aslam Raisani for calling Mr Solecki a guest of Balochistan and said that he could be the guest of state institutions and establishment, not of the Baloch state. “We are giving the last deadline for meeting our demands,” the letter warned and said that after four days state institutions would be responsible for Solecki’s death.

AP adds: “The United Nations and state institutions ... are forcing us to kill Mr John Solecki in our protest,” it said. A UN spokeswoman said the world body was aware of the threat through the media and ‘took it seriously’.

On Feb 13, the group threatened to kill Solecki within three days but did not carry out the threat.
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