China demands Pakistan rescue kidnapped engineers

September 3rd, 2008 Sana · No Comments

BEIJING/ISLAMABAD: As Pakistani Taliban on Tuesday claimed they were holding two Chinese telecoms engineers as prisoners and would soon issue a list of demands, Beijing has urged Pakistan to rescue the hostages and ensure their security.

“We have demanded Pakistan go all out to rescue the two missing engineers and ensure their safety,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu was quoted by Xinhua news agency.

The engineers, employee’s of Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Company (ZTE) went missing on Friday along with their local driver and security guard four days ago in Dir near the Afghan border where they were repairing a communication tower.

Four days after their disappearance, the Pakistani Taliban claimed that they were holding two Chinese telecoms engineers as prisoners and said they would soon issue a list of demands.

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Muslim Khan told reporters on phone that their armed cadres were holding the two Chinese men, along with their guard and driver.

“The Taliban’s ‘Shura’ or council will decide the fate of the Chinese engineers,” Khan said. He, however, did not give any date for a meeting of the council.

In Beijing, Jiang said, the Chinese government attached great importance to the incident and took note of various security agencies launching a man hunt to rescue them. Islamic militants have targetted Chinese workers in Pakistan as Beijing is one of Islamabad’s closest allies as well as its largest arms supplier.

In 2004, Islamic militants kidnapped two Chinese engineers working on a multi-million dollar hydro-electric dam project in South Waziristan tribal area also in NWFP. One of the hostages died in botched rescue bid.