October 18, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 18, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 17: Security officials on Friday claimed arresting 26 foreigners — 14 Uzbeks and 12 Afghans — for their alleged involvement in acts of terrorism in the Darra Adamkhel Frontier Region.

Officials said the suspects who were in a passenger bus were detained at a checkpost in Spina Thana.

A junior commissioned officer presented the detainees, blindfolded with hands tied behind the backs, before journalists taken to the area from Peshawar.

Media personnel were, however, not allowed to speak with them.

Some reporters, however, were able to have a brief conversation with the detainees who said they had been living in refugee camps in the NWFP.

Some of them claimed they were carpet weavers and had been associated with the industry for several years. They also said that the authorities had no evidence to justify their detention.

They were from different Afghan provinces and were going to Quetta when they were asked to disembark from the bus.

On Wednesday, security forces had arrested 38 Afghans in the same area for entering Pakistani illegally.

A detainee, who identified himself as Gul Agha, told Dawn that they were skilled workers and were going to Quetta in search of jobs. He said that he and his family had been living legally in the Naguman refugee camp in Charsadda for 30 years.

He said that he possessed the Proof of Registration card by issued Nadra which allowed him to stay anywhere in Pakistan till 2009. Another man named Abdur Rauf, who could speak only Persian, said that he belonged to Maidan Shaher district in Afghanistan and was a skilled worker. “We are being victimised. We have no link with Uzbeks or any other militant group,” he said.