Pakistan urged to rescue kidnapped engineers
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-10 16:55

Chinese Foreign Minster Li Zhaoxing Sunday urged the Pakistani side to adopt "all necessary" measures to rescue two kidnapped Chinese engineers and ensure their safety.

Li told his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri over the phone Sunday noon that Chinese leaders, government and people weredeeply concerned about the engineers' situation during the two ministers' phone talks Sunday noon.

Kasuri, who described Pakistan and China as friendly neighbors and the two engineers as "brothers" of the Pakistani people, said the Pakistani government attached great importance to the issue and would do their best to rescue the Chinese engineers at any price.

The Chinese engineers, along with a Pakistani guard, were abducted near Jandala in Pakistan's South Waziristan Tribal Agency bordering Afghanistan by five gunmen.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, Pakistani security forces and the kidnappers Saturday night agreed on disengagement and they would resume negotiation on the release of the hostages on Sunday.

Zhang Yiming, a Chinese embassy spokesman in Islamabad, told Xinhua that the two sides agreed to disengage each other and to entrust a tribal chieftain to guard the three hostages and five kidnappers separately.

They also agreed that the security forces and policemen who hadbeen encircling the kidnappers would retreat hundreds of meters and both sides would not act further in the night.

Under the agreement, the chieftain would hold talks with the Pakistani authorities Sunday morning to find a peaceful solution to the issue.

Zhang also disclosed that the kidnappers had been identified asAfghan immigrants, but their motive to kidnap the Chinese was still not clear.

The two Chinese hostages, Wang Ende and Wang Peng, were in goodcondition, Kan Janping, boss of the two engineers, told Xinhua by telephone from the tribal area.

The Chinese engineers were working on a water dam and a canal in the tribal area for China National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Group Corporation.

Close

Today's Top News     Top China News
Chirac supports one-China policy, lifting arms embargo         Chen Shui-bian's call for talks discredited         Economy to grow 9.4% this year and 8.9% next         China, Australia to hold joint naval exercises         Airbus to expand procurement from China         Lawmakers call for protection of drivers	Exhibition ushers in Year of France       Guangdong offers free HIV tests       Two abducted Chinese engineers now safe       Wen offers 4 proposals to deepen partnership       Chongqing to move 400,000 people out of remote areas       French Alstom signing US$1.23 billion deals