A video has emerged apparently showing Tariq Azizuddin, the Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan who went missing in February.

In the video, Azizuddin is heard saying: "We were on our way to Afghanistan in our official car on February 11th when we were kidnapped in the region of Khyber ... by the mujahidin of the Taliban."

Azizuddin went missing while traveling to Kabul, the Afghan capital, from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

In the video, aired on Saturday, he said he was held with his driver and bodyguard, and that they were living "in comfortable conditions and are looked after".

Two men who appeared to be the other hostages sat next to Azizuddin, while three armed men stood in the background.

Azizuddin called upon his government and Pakistan's envoys in Iran and China to "to do all they can to protect our lives and to answer all the demands of the mujahidin of Taliban in order to secure our release".

Kidnapped

The broadcast appeared to be his first public statement since vanishing in February.

It was not immediately clear what the Taliban demands to the Pakistan government were.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said it was unclear whether the Taliban itself or a splinter group was holding Azizuddin.

"There have been no clear demands in this video so there are likely to be some demands issued in the future. They will probably include the release of key members [of the group holding Azizuddin] held in Pakistan," he said.

Scores of people have been kidnapped in the dangerous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years and Azizuddin's disappearance highlighted continuing instability in Pakistan.

PHOTO CAPTION 

Ambassador Tariq Azizuddin is seen in this undated handout photograph released by the Pakistani embassy in Kabul on February 12, 2008.

Al-Jazeera