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Talks go on for release of kidnapped Chinese
Negotiations are ongoing with al-Qaida-linked militants for the release of two Chinese engineers kidnapped Saturday in Pakistan's tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
Mehsud threatened to kill the hostages if the government does not release militants arrested by security forces, said Pakistan's local English-language newspaper Daily Times. Tribal sources said the kidnappers also demanded an end to military
operations in South Waziristan, a remote tribal area where hundreds have died in
battles between Pakistani security forces and al-Qaida-linked militants since
March. Wang Ende, 49, has been working with the hydroelectric power construction company since 1971. He arrived in Pakistan on August 24 this year. Wang Peng joined the engineering company in 1996 after graduation, and he married not long ago and his wife was in Pakistan on vacation when he was kidnapped. Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the kidnappers had not yet said whom they want released. "We will decide when we are given the list," he told a private TV channel on Sunday. The kidnappers have threatened to kill one of the Chinese engineers unless security forces end a siege of their hideout, Reuters reported. A grand tribe meeting was held yesterday to negotiate with the kidnappers for the peaceful resolution to the issue but there were no conclusive results, said another English-language newspaper Dawn. Zhang Yiming, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad, said negotiations are ongoing but did not give more details. "We thank the Pakistani Government for their all-out effort to rescue the
hostages and believe that they will solve the issue," Zhang
said. |
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