ISLAMABAD, April 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced Malik Javed, an abducted employee of the Pakistani Embassy in Baghdad, had been released, local media reported.

    The announcement was made by the prime minister during a function in Islamabad in honor of the victory of Pakistan cricket team over India late Sunday night, according to a report of the local English language newspaper The News here on Monday.

    "I am pleased to announce the release of Malik Javed in Iraq and I congratulate the nation on this good news," said the prime minister while interrupting the function.

    "I went out of this program twice for none other reason than toget the latest on Malik Javed, who would be in Pakistan in three days. We have succeeded in negotiating his release and he is free now. That is a big news for Pakistan," Shaukat Aziz said.

    He thanked all those countries which had helped in the successful negotiation for the release of Malik Javed.

    Malik Javed, who did not have diplomatic status, was kidnapped on April 9 while he was returning to his residential quarter at Amariya district of Baghdad, from a mosque by some people who claimed to be from the Omar bin Khattab group.

    Another local newspaper Dawn quoted Foreign Office Spokesman Jilani as saying that the attitude of the kidnappers with the victim was reportedly good and they did not torture him.

    The kidnappers had also made some demands for Malik Javed's safe release. However, Pakistani authorities were reluctant to give any details in this regard, the report of Dawn said. Enditem