The Pakistan government says it remains hopeful kidnapped US reporter Mr Daniel Pearl will be rescued alive.
Mr Pearl's case is to be taken up by top US Treasury official Mr Kenneth Dam, who has arrived in Islamabad for meetings with Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Dam is to urge Gen Musharraf's government "to do everything it can" to speed Mr Pearl's release, US officials said.
But 12 days after his kidnapping and fruitless appeals from his newspaper for proof that he is still alive, Mr Pearl's fate remained unknown. Mr Pearl's captors have not released a photo of him via e-mail since Wednesday.
Interior Minister Mr Moinuddin Haider insisted that Pakistani investigators "are doing their level best. We are optimistic about the safe recovery of Pearl".
Mr Pearl (38), the Wall Street Journal's South Asian bureau chief, was working on a story about Islamic fundamentalists and trying to arrange an interview with the leader of a small militant group, Sheik Mubarak Ali Shah Gilani, when he was abducted on January 23rd in the crime-ridden southern city of Karachi.
Mr Gilani was arrested last week, and Mr Haider said he remains in custody. But investigators are uncertain whether he was involved in the abduction.
PA