Kolin - The two Czech women who were kidnapped in Pakistan in March this year are currently located near the Pakistani-Afghan border and the Czech Republic is negotiating their release, said Czech President Milos Zeman during a discussion with students in the Czech city of Kolin.
The president refused to tell more in order not to put the two 24-year old women in danger.
The two Czech nationals were taken in March this year in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan when they were crossing the country on their way from Iran to India.
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Later in the same month, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Galuska visited Pakistan and delivered a personal letter from Czech President Milos Zeman to his then-Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping yet, but a video of the two kidnapped women appeared on the Internet in July. In the video, the women asked for the release of Pakistani neurologist Aafia Siddiqui who got a life sentence in the USA on terror charges.
"At present they are moving between Pakistan and Afghanistan and negotiations on their release are ongoing. But I will not reveal any concrete details, because the issue concerns intelligence agencies," Zeman told a student who asked him what was the Czech Republic doing about the matter.
Zeman added that he has sent a letter to his Pakistani counterpart, asking him to focus on the case. The Pakistani president responded that he had tasked the security agency to look into the kidnapping.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has refused to comment on Zeman's words. "We do not comment on this issue, nor on Mr President's statement," said ministry spokeswoman Johana Grohova. The ministry has repeatedly asked Czech media not to report on the case because any leaked information can put the women in danger.
In June during his state visit to Berlin, Zeman said that the Czech Republic was doing all it could to free the women. "I am very happy that the two girls are still alive, and we will do everything in our power to help them," Zeman said in an interview with a German journalist. Controversially, Zeman ended the said interview by saying the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar".
