ISLAMABAD, March 31 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it had not had any information for two weeks about an American U.N. official kidnapped in Pakistan in February and believed he could be "gravely ill".John Solecki, 49, head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Baluchistan province, was kidnapped in the provincial capital, Quetta, on Feb. 2 when gunmen ambushed his car and shot dead his driver.A previously unknown militant group, the Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), said it had kidnapped Solecki.His abductors last telephoned a Pakistani news agency on March 16 to say he was seriously ill with a cardiac problem and authorities should act on their demand to release prisoners."The United Nations is deeply concerned over a lack of direct information from his abductors on the condition of John and has reason to believe he could now be very seriously ill," the world body said in a statement."The U.N. notes that there has been no information from those holding John for at least two weeks which is extremely worrying."Separatist militants have for decades fought a low-intensity insurgency in Baluchistan for control of the province's gas and other resources.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in early March that authorities had identified the kidnappers and locality where Solecki had been kept, but was avoiding any hasty action that may endanger him.A spokesman for the BLUF said on March 16 the group was giving two more days for acceptance of their demands, after which they would not be responsible for Solecki.The group is demanding the release of more than 1,000 prisoners it said were being held by the government.It had earlier demanded United Nations intervention to secure the release of 141 women it said were held in government "torture cells", information on more than 6,000 missing people and resolution of the issue of Baluch independence under the Geneva Convention. (Reporting by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Robert Birsel and Dean Yates)
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