THE father of student hostage Paul Wells today claimed the solution to his 600-day long captivity lay in the hands of his loved ones.

Bob Wells was speaking after Prime Minister John Major pledged that Britain was doing everything possible to discover the fate of Paul and his fellow Western captives.

Mr Major told the Teesside radio station TFM that he had raised the subject of the hostages on a recent visit to India and that he would like to meet the mother of Paul's fellow captive, Middlesbrough man Keith Mangan.

He said: "I have spoken personally about Keith to the Prime Minister of India, face to face with the President of Pakistan and with the previous Prime Minister of India, in order to do everything we can about trying to help Keith.

"We have had no confirmed news of him or the other hostages for a very long time now and I can understand how distressing that must be for you. "But it is a matter of constant concern to us. There has not been a single British Government minister that has been in touch with the Indians or the Pakistanis who has not raised the question of Keith's disappearance and that of his companions.

"If you wish to see me at some stage, I am happy to do so. But we are doing all we can."

But Paul's father Bob, of Bracken Close, Feniscowles, Blackburn, said he believed the solution lay in the hands of the captives' relatives who had the "most to lose and the most to gain" - and not the politicians.

Mr Wells said he had received several letters from Mr Major, the most recent upon his return from the Indian sub-continent.

He added: "There have been approaches from all sorts of people, but I am not sure that they have actually done any good.

"I think the people who can end this situation are the relatives who can speak to people, not on political grounds, but on humanitarian grounds."

Mr Wells, who plans to return to Kashmir in the Spring to hunt for clues about his son's fate, added: "We hope to speak family to family when we visit Kashmir. Hopefully the ordinary people will see fit to help us by providing information."

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