ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's Taliban militants said on Wednesday they would not attack next week's general election and denied involvement in the disappearance of the country's ambassador to neighbouring Afghanistan.
Fears of violence ahead of the February 18 poll have risensince the assassination of opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto,on December 27. More than 400 people have been killed inclashes between troops and militants and bomb attacks since thestart of 2008.
"Our central leadership have decided that as we havenothing to do with the elections, therefore there would be noattacks from our people," Pakistan Taliban spokesman MaulviOmar told Reuters.
"Neither do we support the process of the election nor dowe have any opposition to it and if any attack takes placebefore or on election day, our mujahid won't be involved init," he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Omar is a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of thePakistani Taliban and prime suspect for Bhutto's assassination,though Mehsud has denied any involvement.
The spokesman announced a unilateral Taliban ceasefire aweek ago. Pakistan's military denied a truce had been agreedbut there has been a lull in fighting since then.
The Pakistani Taliban also denied having anything to dowith the disappearance of Tariq Azizuddin, Pakistan'sambassador in Kabul who went missing two days ago on his way tothe Afghan capital from the northwestern Pakistani city ofPeshawar.
"We have no links with it. We don't know anything aboutthat," Omar said.
Pakistani security forces are searching the area andofficials are reluctant to say if Azizuddin has been kidnapped,though Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the envoy had beentaken hostage.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said it had no furtherinformation on the case and again denied media reports that theTaliban had demanded the release of captured Afghan Talibancommander Mullah Mansour Dadullah in exchange for the envoy.
The envoy was travelling through the Khyber tribal regionand had been due to change cars at the frontier crossing but henever reached the border. His driver and bodyguard are alsomissing.
The historic Khyber Pass is the gateway on the main road tolandlocked Afghanistan from northwestern Pakistan.
Khyber is notorious for smugglers and bandits, but unlikeother parts of the tribal belt on the Afghan border has beenrelatively free of violence linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban,though militant activity has picked up in adjoining regions.
(Reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Jon Hemming;Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
