LAKKI MARWAT, July 4: A kidnapped credit officer of the Community Uplift Programme (CUP), Saeedur Rehman, was freed here on Wednesday morning after spending 79 days in captivity.

According to Mr Saeedur Rehman, some unidentified militants had abducted him on April 16 near the Forest Nursery on the Indus Highway when he was on his way to the Lakki city in a passenger pickup.

“The kidnappers shifted me to a remote border village in North Waziristan Agency where they kept me in a small dark room,” Mr Saeed told this scribe on telephone after reaching his hometown Kot Kashmir (Lakki Marwat).

He explained that he could not recognise the area exactly where he was kept but he believed that it could be the NWA.

He said the kidnappers first demanded a ransom of Rs2.5 million for his release and then they decreased the amount to Rs1 million and Rs0.4 million, respectively, with the passage of time. He, however, denied paying any ransom to kidnappers and said that the stiff stand of the Marwat Qaumi Jirga and the efforts of the Taliban of North Waziristan Agency paved the way for his safe release.

He said the kidnappers handed him over to the Taliban of North Waziristan Agency who brought him to Bakkakhel via Mir Ali and freed him there.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Marwat Qaumi Jirga had set a five-day deadline for the safe release of Saeedur Rehman on July 1 (Sunday), warning banning entry of people from Wazir's tribe in Lakki Marwat district.