PESHAWAR, Jan 17: Authorities in the North Waziristan tribal region were locked in negotiations on Saturday with tribal intermediaries to help release the Punjab Minister for Sports and Culture from his tribal captors, an official said.

The official, requesting he not be named, said they were still negotiating with tribal intermediaries to persuade the group suspected of holding Mr Naeemullah Shahani.

"We are still negotiating. The group we believe is holding the minister is reluctant to admit to kidnapping the man," a senior government official told Dawn.

"This is a very sensitive issue. We do not want to raise the stakes here too much. We are not considering using force as that could put the minister's life at risk. So we are negotiating," the official said.

Officials had earlier said they suspected some Torikhel tribesmen could have been involved in Shahani's kidnapping who went missing on Jan 10 while returning from Miramshah.

Officials say that the minister had gone to buy a smuggled non-custom paid vehicle in the tribal region and made a down payment of Rs98,000 for the purpose.

Officials said that they were seeking the custody of two Torikhel tribesmen for questioning to verify whether the minister had been held in the Khaisaro in the Karkarwam tribal area.

Another official acknowledging that there had not been much headway in the case, however, conceded that a tribal parliamentarian from the are was using his good offices to negotiate with suspected tribal captors on the government's behalf.