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Further negotiations needed to free engineers
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-13 01:58 Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, the governor of
Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, told Chinese diplomats that the nation
is stepping up its efforts to find a political solution to the kidnapping of two
Chinese engineers.
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| Citizens Unity activists hold placards in Sukkur, 480
kilometres from Karachi, October 12, demanding the safe release
of Chinese engineers held hostage. A tribal delegation Tuesday sought to
secure the release of the two engineers kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked
militants. [Reuters] |
The governor told an emergency meeting called by the Chinese side that the
hostages were in the same room as the kidnappers and that no explosives were
attached to them.
As for the negotiations with Abdullah Mehsud, who claimed responsibility for
the abduction, Hussain said 30 elders of the Mehsud tribe have consulted
representatives of the provincial government to seek talks. A meeting of tribal
elders with more participants would be held yesterday to decide ways to handle
the kidnapping.
Pakistani Information and Broadcasting Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said
during the talks that they needed one or two more days. He hoped a political
solution could be achieved at yesterday's meeting.
During the meeting, Song Deheng, the political counsellor of the Chinese
Embassy in Pakistan, thanked the Pakistani side for its efforts to rescue the
hostages. He urged Pakistan to take all effective measures for an early release
of the engineers and keep the Chinese side informed of the latest developments.
Abdullah Mehsood,
Pakistani tribal commander and leader of the Islamic militants who
kidnapped two Chinese engineers, makes a speech to the media in the
Chagmalai area of the South Waziristan in this Reuters video image taken
October 11, 2004. Islamic militants holding two Chinese engineers hostage
in Pakistan threatened to kill one on Monday unless security forces ended
a siege of their hideout, a tactic the interior minister said had echoes
of Iraq. [Reuters] | Pakistani Interior Minister
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said on Monday that the abductors have called for the
release of up to six of their accomplices currently in the custody of Pakistani
authorities.
In an interview with the BBC, the minister said the kidnappers were under the
control of Abdullah Mehsud, a former Taliban commander and chief of the
militants in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area.
Sherpao said that four militants were involved in the kidnapping - one
Afghan, one Uzbek and two others probably of Pakistani origin.
The official said the abductors, through their messenger, are demanding the
release of a number of their accomplices although their identities remain
unclear.
Sherpao said security agents know where the hostages are being held, adding
that the militants are wearing bomb belts and holding grenades.
China has started an emergency scheme and would keep in touch with the
Pakistan 24 hours a day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said
yesterday.
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