July 11, 2008	Friday	Rajab 7, 1429

KOHAT, July 10: A jirga constituted to negotiate the release of 17 government officials kidnapped by Taliban militants on Wednesday continued its efforts but no breakthrough was reported on Thursday.

A 400-strong force of Taliban militants besieged the Doaba police station on Wednesday. The provincial government sought the army’s help which immediately moved in artillery and tanks from Kohat and took control of the entire Doaba area on Thursday.

The army imposed a curfew in the area with shoot-on-sight orders to put pressure on the militants to unconditionally release the government officials or face an operation.

A senior military official told Dawn on Thursday that the army had not come on their own, but had been requested by the civil administration to help them thwart an imminent threat to the government property and precious lives.

“We will go back to our positions when asked by the local administration, but we have been told to stay there and use force in case the militants attack or cause any harm to the hostages.”

Officials said the Taliban, who had besieged the police station, had retreated in the early hours of Thursday but the besieged policemen came out only when the army took control of the area.

The SHO, Jehangir Khan, along with other policemen, remained trapped in the police station for more than 20 hours without electricity because the militants had blown up the transformer.

On Thursday, the army and FC raided the headquarters of Taliban in Doaba and seized a huge quantity of weapons. The jirga members sent to negotiate with the Taliban came back with some demands made by the militants, including withdrawal of troops from the area and release of their seven associates arrested by security forces.

However, senior officials of the government, including regional coordination officer of Kohat region Omer Afridi, Kohat region DIG Qudratullah Marwat, Hangu District Coordination Officer Shahabullah Shah and Orakzai Agency Political Agent Kamran Zeb told the jirga that the government would not release the detained militants and all kidnapped officials must be released unconditionally and the Taliban must leave the area.

MPA Mufti Said Janan again went to the militants but there was no progress in talks.

A Taliban spokesman claimed on Thursday that the militants had kidnapped 29 officials and passengers and shifted them to an unknown place. Seven senior officials of the Hangu Water Management Department were kidnapped by Taliban militants a fortnight ago from Doaba.

Hangu SSP Mohammad Idrees told Dawn he had received a complaint on Wednesday that some people had detained a man in Hangu bazaar for allegedly running a brothel.

The incident caused unrest in the area and he had to order a flag march to restore order.

During patrolling, security forces came across a group of armed militants who were taken into custody for carrying illegal weapons. Soon, he learnt that Taliban had surrounded the Doaba Police Station to seek release of the arrested men.