Shahani says he stays in cabinet - 'No ransom paid'
By Our Staff Reporter
LAHORE, Feb 9: Punjab Sports and Culture Minister Naeemullah Khan Shahani on Monday refuted reports that he had paid any ransom to win freedom from his kidnappers.
Speaking at a press conference at his residence, the minister also rejected as baseless some reports that he had been stopped from working as the provincial minister. Shahani was on a visit to Miran Shah in tribal area on Jan 10 when five gunmen kidnapped him and his three companions near Bannu.
He admitted that he was captured by the tribesmen for ransom but "God helped him escape without paying a penny." He also refuted allegations that he was involved in the smuggled vehicles' business and that his abduction had any thing to do with it.
"I will resign from the provincial assembly if any allegation is proved," he said, adding his family was well off and need not indulge in such dirty practices.
"My family has been in politics since decades and there is nothing against us," he maintained. Shahani alleged that his political rivals were out to dent his reputation.
Answering a question, he said that he had met the Punjab chief minister and narrated his ordeal. "The CM is satisfied." He said that some 70 people of the Baka Khail tribe involved in his kidnapping had been arrested so far. The chiefs of the tribe had been asked to hand over the main culprits.
ESCAPE: The escape story narrated by Mr Shahani is not less than a Hollywood thriller. Shahani and three others managed their escape on Feb 2.
"On the 23rd day of my detention, I, with the help of brother-in-law Naeem Masood, friend Abid Insar and driver Najeebullah Marwat broke open the window of a fortress-like house when they (kidnappers) were away for the Eid prayers," the minister told newsmen on Monday.
"Three of us rushed to one direction and the fourth, Najeeb, to another according to our escape plan." Shahani said a boy who used to keep a vigil on them and a couple who served them food did chase them.
"Soon we met some people on our escape route who helped us reach a nearby police station and eventually our ordeal was over," the minister said. According the Shahani, he may not recognize the main culprits as they appeared before him hooded. However, he and his fellows had left some marks on the walls for identification of the house.
The tribe which is reportedly notorious for kidnapping people for ransom "relaxed" security after learning that Shahani was a minister. The captors also did not 'reveal' the purpose of their kidnapping.
"They might have dropped the idea of getting ransom after knowing that I am a minister," Shahani said, adding the kidnappers usually contacted families of their captives through middlemen for demanding ransom but in his case no middleman approached his family.
The day Mr Shahani was kidnapped, he was supposed to be in Bhakkar, his hometown, on the direction of the chief minister to supervize the rescue operation at the Thal Canal where over 60 bus passengers had drowned. But he left for Miran Shah reportedly to condole the death of his maternal aunt on his private car, without informing any government official.
Though a police post was reportedly some 2.5km away from the house where they were kept, the NWFP police and intelligence agencies failed to trace out their whereabouts.
There have been reports that the minister was released after paying a ransom to the kidnappers. Even Mr Shahani himself admitted that the people who had kidnapped him never let any prey go without paying ransom.
