BRITISH FILMMAKERS DISAPPEAR IN TALIBAN COUNTRY

A British documentary film team has been reported missing in Northern Pakistan where they had planned to film interviews with leaders of the Taliban, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported today (Thursday). The team was headed by Asad Qureshi, a British national of Pakistani descent, who has filmed in the area previously. Among those accompanying him was a Pakistani official identified by the Guardian as a Colonel Imam, who it said is credited with creating the Taliban in the 1990s. The team was last seen on March 25 when they visited the home of Javed Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of the Pakistani parliament. He told the Guardian that Qureshi was one of two British nationals working on the film. “They could have been picked up by American agencies or the Taliban,” he said. The Guardian did not indicate who was backing the filmmakers or whether the documentary was intended for theatrical or television release.