KARAK: The elders of Chountra have expressed resentment over failure of police to arrest the people involved in kidnapping of girl student two days ago.

They threatened to launch a full-fledged protest movement if the kidnapped girl was not recovered within 24 hours.

Addressing a meeting here on Wednesday, they demanded of the authorities to demolish the houses of the suspects under anti-terrorism law. The meeting, presided over by district councillor Abdul Sadiq, was attended a large number of local people.

The participants of the meeting said that the deadline set by the elders of the area two days ago expired on Wednesday. They extended the deadline for 24 hours to resolve the issue according to the spirit of law.

They said that the girl was student of a private high school and she was kidnapped by five suspects at gunpoint when she was returning home from the school.

The elders condemned the immoral act of the suspects and termed it an act of terrorism. They said that police failed to recover the girl and arrest the suspects. They said that people would be forced to take to street again if police failed to show any progress.

However, Adil Khan, PRO of police, when contacted, said that the department launched a large-scale operation in the area to trace the suspects and recover the girl. He hoped that the suspects would be arrested soon.

HELD: Police claimed to have arrested 120 proclaimed offenders and recovered weapons and drugs from their possession during raids.

According to a statement, police launched search and strike operation in the district against criminals and arrested 120 criminals during the past three weeks. The weapons seized from the arrested persons included six Kalashnikovs, 11 guns, four rifles, 20 pistols, one Kalakov, 645 cartridges of different bores and 35 kilograms of hashish.

KILLED: A player was killed when two teams clashed during a cricket match in Rehmatabad area of Karak on Wednesday.

Police and local people said that the players exchanged harsh words over some minor issue which led to the clash. Later, players of a team attacked their rival Saqib Salim with bats. He suffered critical injuries in the head and was shifted to the district headquarters hospital Karak where he died.

Police registered FIR against two players, identified as Sayab Anwar and Zakir.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2016