PAKISTAN: An aid worker from Scotland whose body was found dumped in an orchard knew the work he was doing was dangerous, his half-brother said today.
Khalil Dale, who formerly lived in Dumfries, was abducted at gunpoint in January while working with the International Committee Of The Red Cross in Baluchistan province.
His kidnappers left a note on his body saying he had been killed because they had not received a ransom.
His half-brother Peter Dale, from Bramham, near Leeds, said: "He thought it was wonderful to be working there. He knew his work was dangerous."
Mr Dale, who is 21 years older than Khalil, added: "He led an incredible life."
Khalil Dale, 60, who was born in York, had been awarded the MBE for his humanitarian work overseas.
He changed his name from Ken when he became a Muslim, was engaged to be married and had been living in Pakistan for nearly a year, working as a health programme manager
His half-brother said he last saw Khalil last September when he came to his Yorkshire home.
Mr Dale said he urged him to stop his humanitarian work but his brother was determined to keep going.
He said he was told about the kidnapping as soon as it happened and was not surprised because the family knew Khalil was working in a dangerous place.
But a British computer expert who was held captive in Iraq for 2½ years said the Foreign Office should have been "more aggressive" in its attempts to free Mr Dale.
Peter Moore, from Lincoln, said officials should have tried a new approach when it became clear that Mr Dale was not going to be freed.
Mr Moore, 38, spent 31 months in captivity after he and his four British guards – including Alan McMenemy, from Milngavie, near Glasgow – were snatched in Baghdad by an Iraqi militia.
Mr Moore was freed in 2010, but his fellow captives were all killed.He said: "Hostage situations have not gone well for the Foreign Office over the last few years.
"As well as my own kidnapping, we have recently had the death of the British oil worker Chris McManus in Nigeria and now the tragic case of Mr Dale.
"In Pakistan, it is often said these groups are linked to the Pakistani Government and maybe they didn't go down that line far enough."
Mr Moore said Foreign Office staff and the Red Cross had been right not to pay the ransom that was apparently demanded for Mr Dale. But he said they could have done more to put agencies in touch who would be willing to help raise funds for his release.
He also criticised the media blackout that is requested as routine by officials when a British national is taken hostage.
Mr Moore said: "Initially, a blackout is a good idea, but it's clearly not working if bodies are coming out at the end of it. I thought not releasing our details in my case made us look like we were doing something secret, which we were not."
The International Committee Of The Red Cross had been in contact with the kidnappers on at least three occasions, but the organisation refused to go into detail about the negotiations.
Spokesman Sean Maguire said it had a policy of not paying ransoms. He said: "We did everything possible to try to get Khalil out. His death, to our mind, is senseless and barbaric."