MINGORA, Dec 13: The workers of the Red Cross on Thursday delivered letters of those languishing in different prisons of the warlords in Afghanistan to their relatives here.

The workers did not like to be escorted by the police and avoided talking to the press. They were accompanied only by the local volunteers.

A prisoner, Fazal Rahim, hailing from the Sharingal Valley of upper Dir, has said in his letter that some 144 people of the Malakand division, who were arrested on Nov 10 soon after the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the forces of Abdur Rasheed Dostum, have been imprisoned in Mazar-i-Sharif.

According to another letter, most of the prisoners are in a serious condition and are crying for bread and medicines. They are seriously wounded and are in need of immediate treatment.

A local leader of the Tehrik-i-Nefaz-i-Shariah Muhammadi, Malakand division, told Dawn that at least 900 TNSM workers were still missing in Afghanistan and efforts to trace them had failed.

Some of them, he added, were reportedly trying to return via the Chaman border, but the authorities were not allowing them suspecting their association with the al-Qaeda.

TNSM spokesman Muhammad Abdullah described as baseless reports indicating association of TNSM workers with the al-Qaeda net work.