Pakistani hostage appears on video
 |  Javaid failed to return home from evening prayers on Saturday. |
| |
|  VIDEO |
 Insurgents attacked Iraqi police today in three cities.
 A man identified as a U.S. hostage appears in a video shown on Al-Jazeera TV.
|
|
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A Pakistani embassy official who disappeared more than five days ago in Baghdad has appeared in a hostage video on the Arabic-language network Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera did not air audio of the tape, shown Thursday, but said the man urged the Pakistani government and the international community to intervene and secure his release.
An official in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed that the hostage whose picture was shown was that of embassy employee, Malik Mohammed Javaid, who failed to return home from Saturday evening prayers at a western Baghdad mosque.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry earlier this week said the group that claimed to have kidnapped Javaid has demanded ransom for his release.
The ministry would not disclose how much money the group wants.
On Wednesday, Al Jazeera broadcast a video that showed U.S. businessman Jeffrey Ake, who was abducted this week in Iraq. The video showed him surrounded by masked militants while he asked his family and friends to urge the United States to negotiate with the "Iraqi national resistance." (Full story)
Ake is president and chief executive officer of Equipment Express, a company in the northwestern Indiana community of Rolling Prairie that makes machinery for packaging liquids.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld held talks in Islamabad with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, after earlier visiting Iraq and Afghanistan.
During his surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday, Rumsfeld praised the country for its fledgling democracy and noted improvements in its security forces.
In his talks with Musharraf on Wednesday, Rumsfeld reaffirmed U.S. military help for Pakistan.
A statement by the Pakistani government said Rumsfeld confirmed the U.S. would "be stepping up support to meet Pakistan's legitimate defense needs."
-- CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi in Islamabad contributed to this report
