John Solecki was the head of

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

(UNHCR) office in the Pakistani city of

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

. Solecki had been working in Balochistan to help the Afghan refugees, the communities hosting them and the local people affected by floods and earthquakes.

Kidnapping and aftermath

On February 2, 2009, he was kidnapped by a Baloch terrorist group named Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF). His driver, Syed Hashim, was shot and later he died at a local hospital. Solecki was held as a hostage by BLUF for 61 days. While he was in their captivity, BLUF had repeatedly threatened to behead him. Following the abduction of Solecki, United Nation Resident Representative, Fikret Akcura, disclosed that Brahumdagh Bugti had connections with the abduction of UN official John Solecki in 2009. Similarly, United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan,

Kai Eide Kai Aage Eide (born 28 February 1949 in Sarpsborg) is a Norwegian diplomat and writer. He was appointed the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on 7 ...

, called the then President of Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repu ...

. President Karzai admitted that Brahumdagh Bugti was in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...

and that he will pressure Brahumdagh Bugti for the safe release of John Solecki. Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik also believed that Brahumdagh Bugti was behind the kidnapping of Solecki.’سلیکی کے اغواء میں براہمداغ کا ہاتھ‘
BBC, 22 April 2009 Solecki was eventually released on April 4, 2009. He was found on the side of the road in Khadkhutcha, 30 miles south of Quetta. His hands and feet were bounded when he was found. John Solecki is the son of American archaeologists Ralph Solecki and

Rose Solecki Rose L. Solecki (born November 18, 1925) was an American archaeologist, who worked with her husband Ralph Solecki on excavations in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Sudan. Early life Rose Muriel Lilien was born in New York City, th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solecki, John 2000s missing person cases American expatriates in Pakistan American officials of the United Nations American people taken hostage Foreign hostages in Pakistan Formerly missing people Kidnapped American people Living people Missing person cases in Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people)

Kidnapping and aftermath

See also

References