April 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428

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KOHAT, April 23: The office-bearers of the All Pakistan Coal Mines Association and hundreds of coal miners blocked the Kohat-Hangu road to condemn the authorities for their ‘inaction over the kidnapping of their colleagues’ who were taken away more than a fortnight ago.

The association had given a three-day deadline to the administrations of Kohat and Orakzai agencies for the recovery of two coal miners who were kidnapped on April 11 from the Karwal area of the Lower Orakzai Agency.

On the expiry of the deadline on Monday, coal miners from Hangu, Kohat, Orakzai Agency, Kurram Agency and Darra Adam Khel blocked the Kohat-Hangu road at 10.30am near the Abdul Ali check post.

Another protest which was to be held at Kacha Pakha, the border town between Kohat and Orakzai Agency, was postponed due to the intervention of the Kohat administration. The FIR of the case had been registered in the Ustarzai police station in Kohat.

The recovery of the coal miners is being delayed due to the boundary dispute between the administrations of the tribal Orakzai Agency and the Kohat district as they are blaming each other for the crime.

So far no action has been taken for the recovery of the victims as the officials have not managed to resolve the ‘territorial dispute’ between the two administrations.

Dawn has learnt that the jeep in which the miners were going along with the son of a contractor was intercepted in Kohat.

However, the vehicle was later found abandoned in the Kalaya area of the Orakzai Agency.

Addressing the coal miners, All Pakistan Coal Mines Association President Sarzameen Khan said the government had failed to protect the lives of people and no action had been taken against the kidnappers.

He repeated his demand that the administration of the Orakzai Agency should conduct an operation in the Kalaya area and arrest the elders of Chappar Mishti and Shekhan tribes under the 40 Frontier Crime Regulations to force them to release the miners.

He lamented that so far no action had been taken for the safe release of the coal mine workers because they were poor people and the government did not care about their fate, which was indeed a very sad state of affairs.

Many others who spoke on the occasion appealed to NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Orazkai to direct the tribal administration to recover their colleagues at the earliest.

They opened the road for traffic after half an hour on the assurance of a deputy superintendent of police that the case would be taken up with the Orakzai Agency administration for taking swift action against the kidnappers.