August 23, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 9, 1428

KOHAT, Aug 22: A man kidnapped 44 days ago escaped from captivity and reached home safely on Wednesday.

Hamzullah, 45, a dispenser was kidnapped from a basic health unit in Lachi town on July 7.

Addressing a news conference here, he said that armed men had kidnapped him in a pickup truck as soon as he left the clinic. He was blindfolded and taken to an unknown place in Orakzai Agency. The abductors took away his wristwatch, Rs2,300, mobile phone and a pen.

He was kept in a mountain cave and two masked men guarded him round the clock. During the first ten days of the captivity, he was kept in chains but later the chains would be taken off in the daytime. After a few days, they stopped to chain him. He was given two meals a day, he said.

Hamzullah said that he escaped on Tuesday night and reached home after travelling on foot for 33 hours.

His captors had been demanding Rs700,000 as ransom from his family.

The kidnapping incident had sparked strikes throughout the province by paramedic associations who demanded his early and safe recovery. But the government, he regretted, didn’t do anything to rescue him.

Kohat Paramedic Association president Rashid Bokhari criticised the government for failing to rescue their colleague.

He accused police of serving only the interests of the rich and influential.