05 February 2004	Thursday	13 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Feb 4: The family of Punjab Sports and Culture Minister Naeemullah Khan Shahani, who says he escaped from his captors after a 23-day detention in the tribal area in Bannu , is reported to have bought his freedom by paying Rs30 million as ransom to the kidnappers.

When contacted, a Punjab government spokesman said the provincial administration was unaware of any deal between the minister's family and his kidnappers. "We have only what the minister himself has revealed after his release," the spokesman added.

The minister, who went to his native city Bhakkar after his release on Monday, could not be contacted. His family had left for Bhakkar two days before Eid.

He is expected to reach the provincial capital on Thursday. On his release, the minister had reportedly told the NWFP authorities that he had "escaped" from his captors. He had identified a couple of houses in the area where he was kept by his abductors and named three kidnappers who are being hunted by the law-enforcement agencies.

According to sources, the minister had been abducted because of his failure to pay the price of non-customs-paid vehicles he had allegedly purchased from the kidnappers.

His family is reported to have requested the Punjab government to pay the ransom to secure Mr Shahani's release. The government is stated to have refused to oblige, saying it was a "private dispute" and the family should pay the ransom if it wanted to strike a deal with the kidnappers in spite of the "official efforts for his release".

According to reports, the minister was shifted to Afghanistan a few days back, while the family negotiated with the kidnappers.

Arif Mahmood in Bannu adds: The law-enforcement agencies are combingthe Bannu Frontier Region in search of three suspects named by Mr Shahani and three other kidnapped people after their escape on Monday.

Frontier Constabulary men raided two houses in the region wherethe kidnapped people were kept, but the suspects had left the places.

The minister and his companions, who were in shabby clothes, claimed that they had not paid ransom and they escaped after breaking open the door when the kidnappers went to offer Eid prayers.

They told newsmen that after their escape they took refuge in the house of Dir Nawab Khan at Ghora Bakakhel, who informed the police about them.

One of the kidnapped people, Najeebullah Marwat, said he and the others were returning after offering Fateha at Miran Shah, North Waziristan Agency, when five armed men stopped them near Merazamel checkpoint.

He said they were kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the house of Jalat Khan through the Baran Dam Marwat Canal route. They claimed that they were kept there for a few hours before being shifted to the house of Qasim. They said they were chained but not tortured and were provided meals.

After their escape the minister and his companions were taken to the residence of Bannu Superintendent of Police Mohammad Iqbal Khan, where officials of secret agencies and government functionaries met them. After getting information the law-enforcement agencies raided the two houses.

The alleged kidnappers belong to the Lalakhel Tukhtikhel clan of the Bakakhel tribe.

The raiding party found a high-powered antenna used for a wirelesssystem on the rooftop of a kidnapper's house and dismantled it but none of the suspects could be arrested.