KOHAT, Dec 26: Securing release of 16 kidnapped people, among them four army officials and a senior officer of the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR), who went missing in and near Darra Adamkhel earlier this month, has become a serious problem for the government as it strives to ensure peaceful election in the region where militant activities continue unabated.
Officials told Dawn on Tuesday night that negotiations were in progress with the militants for the release of two captains, two havaldars, a CAR officer, four cable TV operators and seven others.
Military sources refuted a claim of a spokesman for Taliban of North Waziristan, Maulana Omer, that the army officials were in their custody and that they had been kidnapped from Kohat city.
The sources said that the officials had been kidnapped between Darra Adamkhel and Matanni in Peshawar district.
An official said one of the captains had made a call from his mobile phone to a friend of his just before entering the Friendship Tunnel near Kohat.
“We are not sure as to who is behind the kidnapping of the army officials who were in civil dress in a private vehicle when they disappeared,” the official said.
The kidnapping spree in Darra Adamkhel begun on Dec 11 after sectarian clashes broke out in Kurram Agency.
Sources said the administration was relying on maliks who lacked the courage to confront the local Taliban.
The districts of Hangu and Kohat, surrounded by tribal areas, have become targets of the militants whose activities were increasing in the region.
They have carried out 27 blasts and two suicide attacks in Kohat district during 2007, one in a mosque in the cantonment area which killed at least 32 people.
The militants have gained control over Darra Adamkhel, from where members of a community cannot pass, and Thall teshil of Hangu district.
They are reported to have made Hangu their regional base camp, which is visited by their associates from Afghanistan, North Waziristan, Orakzai Agency, Kurram Agency and Darra Adamkhel.
On last Tuesday, 60 to 70 Taliban from North Waziristan attended the funeral of their two associates who had died the previous night in an exchange of fire between rival sects along the border between Kurram Agency and Thall.
The bodies of Bismillah and Sultan Mohammad had been brought to Spin Thall. After the funeral, the Taliban launched a four-hour-long fund-raising campaign for the ‘Mujahideen’ fighting in Kurram Agency.
They visited the area once a week to collect donations for their movement, the sources said. They collected quilts, food, cash and medicines from the Thall bazaar.
Local people say the law enforcement agency has failed to restore peace in Kurram Agency despite claims made by NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai during his three visits to the area over the past 15 days.
A local journalist said the administration had done nothing to make the Parachinar-Peshawar road safe, which had resulted in extreme food shortage and disruption of education and working in government and private offices.
He said the people were forced to buy food from Paktia province in Afghanistan at exorbitant rates.
The people from both the rival sects were paying up to 10 times higher fares while using alternative routes.
The rival tribes of Orakzai Agency and Hangu district are observing a temporary truce following the killing of 24 people as a result of fighting over the ownership of a shrine and violence following a suicide attack on a procession which claimed more at least 48 lives, respectively.
