25 January 2004	Sunday	02 Zilhaj 1424

BANNU, Jan 24: The Bannu Frontier Region administration has given a 72-hour deadline to the Bakakhel sub-tribe of the Wazir tribe to hand over Punjab Sports and Culture Minister Naeemullah Shahani to the authorities or face action.

Sources said the administration believed that the kidnappers belonging to the tribe held the minister in the region.

Tribal elders, however, contradicted the administration's stance and asked for evidence about the presence of the captive and identity of the alleged kidnappers before taking any action.

NWFP Home Secretary Abdul Karim Qasuria met a Bakakhel jirga at the Frontier House on Saturday and gave the tribe an ultimatum to hand over the minister before Jan 26 or face the consequences.

"The government will use full force if the Bakakhel tribe fails to hand over the kidnapped minister," said a jirga member quoting the secretary.

Mr Shahani, who visited Miramshah in the North Waziristan Agency on Jan 10 allegedly to purchase a non-custom-paid vehicle, went missing in the region with three other persons.

Initially, the administration believed that the minister had been kidnapped in North Waziristan and launched a massive search operation there, but failed to find any clue to the kidnappers.

Bakakhel elders said the government could not prove the presence of the captives in the Bannu Frontier region and asked the secretary to furnish concrete proof in this regard.

A Bakakhel Wazir jirga will be held at Mandi Bakakhel on Sunday to assess the situation and chalk out a strategy.

An elder, Malik Niaz Wali, said the tribe told the secretary that the minister had been kidnapped from North Waziristan and the agency's administration was trying to cover up its negligence.

He said the jirga members had offered full cooperation to the government but insisted that the administration should not punish innocent people.