New U.N. Envoy To Iraq Undeterred By Killings

WASHINGTON, July 29 (AFP) - Newly-appointed UN envoy to Iraq, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi of Pakistan, said Thursday the execution of two compatriots by terrorists in Iraq would not demoralize his mission to the war-torn country.
"This is truly a noble mission," said Qazi, who was Pakistan's ambassador to the United States until his appointment by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the high profile job earlier this month.
A shocked Pakistan on Thursday condemned the killing of two migrant workers by Iraqi militants, who had been holding them hostage. President Pervez Musharraf described the act as a crime against humanity that had damaged Islam.
Qazi called the killings "absolutely mindless and senseless" but said such violence was not going to dampen his objective of promoting reconciliation and implementing political, constititional and electoral reforms in Iraq.
"This assignment is not only more challenging and risky but also carries with it the possibility of being of some assistance to people who have suffered for so long," he told a news conference.
"I guess the gratification and the sense of reward that one would get from being part of such an exercise is something of a very different order," he said.
A 40-year career diplomat, Qazi said he was asked by a journalist when he stepped into UN headquarters in New York a week ago: "'What is so wrong with Washington that you have to go to Baghdad for your next job?'"
"I guess one has to not always be guided by reason and caution but has to also carry one's aspirations to do the kind of things one wants to do and this is truly a noble mission," said the 61-year-old father of two daughters.
Qazi replaces Sergio Vieira de Mello as Annan's special representative in Iraq. De Mello was among 22 people killed in a bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad last year.
Before his posting to Washington in September 2002, Qazi had led missions in China, India, Russia, Syria and the former East Germany.
Qazi said his "top priority" when he takes up his job "very soon" was to lay the groundwork for elections in Iraq despite unending violence by insurgents in the war-torn nation.
He said planned January 2005 elections were crucial as they would precede a constitution-framing phase in August and a referendum that should endorse the constitution.
The polls will then be followed by elections for a constitutionally-elected government at the end of next year.
Qazi said that being a Muslim and coming from the same region as Iraq would make his task easier.
Muslim Pakistan, though a key ally in the US war against terror, did not support the US-led invasion of Iraq. Islamabad has said it may contribute troops to a stabilization force.
Qazi said the UN wanted to ensure that as many Iraqis as possible participated in the country's political process.
"The UN does have a leading role to play, without which it will be that much more difficult for the people of Iraq to make the political transition from now to an elected constitutional government by the end of 2005," he said.