PESHAWAR, Aug 9: The Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith has demanded of the government to immediately recover its central leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz Nooristani, who was kidnapped on Aug 4 from Orakzai Agency.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday, Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami and Mohammad Maqbool, the two Jamiat leaders alleged that the followers of a Swabi-based religious party had also kidnapped Maulana Rustami and Maulana Abdul Waris and took them to some unknown destination.

They said the party was opposed to JAH functioning in the Federally Administered Tribal Area, and forcibly stopped the JAH workers from preaching in Fata.

The same group had also invited local amir of the JAH Mohammad Maqbool to prove his party’s righteousness by participating in a polemic. The JAH leader agreed and decided to hold a polemic with on Aug 2 at the mosque of Hafiz Ahmed Rehman, a local leader of JUI. However, the group did not attend the session and unilaterally announced that the JAH leaders had refused to participate, they added.

The JAH leaders alleged the group kidnapped the Jamiat leaders on their way to Peshawar. They gave two-day ultimatum to the government to recover the JAH leaders, otherwise they would launch a protest campaign.