Abduction of child in troubled Sulu province condemned

COTABATO CITY - Officials condemned Friday the abduction in Jolo town of the 10-year-old son of a municipal government official by suspected Islamic State-inspired militants.Zaire Khan Pasil, a fifth-grade pupil, was snatched by six men armed with pistols in Barangay Kasanyangan in Jolo, the capital town of the troubled island province of Sulu.Sulu, touted as the most dangerous province in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, is a known hotbed of Islamic militancy and bastion of the Abu Sayyaf operating in the fashion of the Islamic State.ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman on Friday called on the Sulu provincial police and local traditional, religious and political leaders to cooperate in securing the release of the kidnap victim. The child is virtually an innocent child. He has to be back to his family, back in school, Hataman told reporters Friday morning.Hataman’s regional local government secretary, lawyer Kirby Abdullah, said local officials should also help police and military probers identify the abductors of Pasil.Hataman and Abdullah have condemned the abduction of Pasil in separate statements emailed to different media outfits Friday.Pasil’s father is the municipal local government operations officer of Jolo, according to Abdullah.A relative of Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan, Jr. was also abducted and held captive for several days by gunmen in the province early on.More than 50 people, among them public school teachers, health and social welfare workers and police personnel were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Sulu in recent years.Many of the victims were set free only after their captors received ransom paid by relatives.The Police Regional Office-ARMM said Friday Pasil was reportedly taken to a remote area in Patikul, Sulu by his motorcycle-riding abductors.Chief Supt. Graciano Mijares of PRO-ARMM said local police units are now trying to locate the kidnappers and their 10-year-old captive.