It enabled him to enter into lively discussion with Pakistani drivers.

"With a Pakistani driver in a beard, with his beads and caftan," she told me.

The group said the Pakistani driver used by the journalists, Mohamed Salim, was still being held in secret detention.

The Pakistani driver looked relieved.

Four Americans and their Pakistani driver were killed today when gunmen fired on their vehicle in Karachi, the authorities said.

When a similar incident occurred at subsequent checkpoint, the group fled, asking their hired Pakistani driver to find a route to by-pass further checkpoints.

So he walked along the line of cabs outside the terminal until he found one with a Pakistani driver.

A Pakistani driver working on a United States military base was threatened with execution and held for eight days before being released.

A Pakistani driver added: "We are second, after Leona Helmsley."