ISLAMABAD, July 31: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday offered his role in safe release of the Koreans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Maulana Fazl, who is also secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), held out this assurance while talking to Korean Ambassador Kim Jooseeok who called on him at his parliament house chamber.

Taliban militants have killed two of the 23 Korean hostages after the expiry of an earlier deadline. They want the government to free their colleagues in Afghan jails to save the lives of other hostages.

The Taliban set the Afghanistan government a new deadline of Wednesday to meet its demands.

The MMA leader expressed his concern and sorrow over the abduction of Korean citizens who, he said, had come to Afghanistan with the spirit of serving human beings and had nothing to do with the war.

“Majority of the hostages are women and women are never made prisoners of war nor does Islam allow such acts,” he said. Maulana Fazl appealed to the Taliban to release the hostages on humanitarian grounds.

He assured the Korean envoy that he would play his role in the early and safe release of the hostages.

He said the Afghan imbroglio needed to be resolved through dialogue as the use of force could not bring peace and stability to the region. He asked the Korean envoy to persuade his government to withdraw its armed contingents from Afghanistan to accelerate the process of peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan problem.

The Korean envoy thanked Maulana Fazal for his support on the hostage issue and assured that he would inform his government about the sentiments of the MMA leader.