More co-operation urged after kidnapped justice seeker killed

Malik Iqbal, of Bradford, was murdered last week when three masked men called him to the door of the house where he was staying in Rawalpindi.

The 55-year-old, who leaves a wife and four young daughters, was kidnapped last year and freed after almost a month when his family paid a £15,000 ransom.

Mr Iqbal had returned to Pakistan to give evidence in the kidnapping trial. His friend Riaz Ahmed, a former Bradford councillor, said last night Mr Iqbal had been determined to go back to 
see justice done, despite the dangers.

Mr Ahmed said: “He was very determined to go back and bring these people to justice, which was going to happen, but he has paid the ultimate price for this with his life.

“One of the things that he did say was that he wanted to do it so it did not happen to anybody else.

“The only reason why Malik Iqbal went over there was to highlight this by bringing people to justice.

“A bit more co-operation between governments would be useful and a clear message has to go out to people that this will not be tolerated.”

Mr Ahmed said there were important questions to be asked about the amount of protection his friend was given.

“It is such a tragic, tragic case,” he said. “Everyone is shell-shocked by it. It was something Mr Iqbal was afraid of and I think the authorities in Pakistan have let down everybody. There should have been some kind of security for him.”

When he returned to the UK after his kidnap ordeal, Mr Iqbal made claims that he had been singled out as a target because as a British citizen he was seen as being wealthy.

During his ordeal, he had been chained to the bed and had survived on a diet of tea and biscuits occasionally provided by his kidnappers.

David Ward, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, 
said this case showed the region could be a “dangerous” place at times, but Mr Iqbal had been keen to return to give evidence in the trial.

“The main concern that Malik had was that the people responsible would not be brought to account,” he added.

“He was determined to make sure that the people were caught so even after his horrific experience of being kidnapped he was determined to help.”

The case is one of a rising number of kidnappings for ransom in Pakistan and around the globe, with westerners often seen as a lucrative target.

In March, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called for action to combat what it described as an explosion in the numbers of incidents of kidnapping.

Yesterday it was revealed that a British woman kidnapped in Ecuador while visiting a remote nature reserve in the Amazon jungle has been rescued.

Kathryn Sara Cox, 23, was abducted on Friday with an Australian woman near the country’s border with Colombia.

Ecuador’s interior minister Jose Serrano said the pair were rescued on Saturday night by police and armed forces.

A photograph was later tweeted of Ms Cox and the 32-year-old Australian woman, named in reports as Fiona Louise Wilde, as they left an aeroplane following their rescue.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said yesterday the safety of Ms Cox was now “top priority” as UK and 
Ecuadorian authorities worked together to find who was responsible.

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