On Wednesday the Pakistan’s Taliban militants announced that they won’t intervene in the elections due next week and that they are not involved in the disappearance of the Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin.

Pakistan’s general elections are to begin next week on February 18 and ever since the death of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on December 27, fears of violence has been rising in the country.

Since the beginning of the year almost 400 people have died in the fighting between the government troops and militants.

According to Reuters, Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar said: "Our central leadership has decided that as we have nothing to do with the elections, therefore there would be no attacks from our people. Neither do we support the process of the election nor do we have any opposition to it and if any attack takes place before or on election day, our mujahid won't be involved in it."

Omar is a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, who is known to be the leader of Pakistani Taliban and the suspect in the assassination of Bhutto. The accusation was denied by Meshud.

The militants denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Pakistani ambassador.

The ambassador Tariq Azizuddin went missing on Monday just when he was heading to Kabul from the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar along with his bodyguard and his driver. They disappeared in the Khyber tribal region.

Omar said: "We have no links with it. We don't know anything about that,"

The ambassador had to exchange cars at the border with Afghanistan but he never showed up.

The Khyber Pass is the main link between Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan and is known to be a place filled with smugglers and thieves. Even so, the area is not that dangerous like other parts of the Afghan border and it has been free of violence coming from the likes of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Pakistan embassy in Kabul said that the last time it was in contact with the ambassador was on Monday just before entering the Khyber tribal region from Peshawar. The area is being searched by the Pakistani security and the officials are hesitating in saying that Azizuddin was kidnapped, even though Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that he was indeed kidnapped.