PESHAWAR, Dec 11: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday summoned Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief and home secretaries and Fata additional chief secretary in connection with the kidnapping of eight employees of Gomal Zam Dam Project by militants about four months ago.

A bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth also put on notice the attorney general for Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general.

The bench directed that the three secretaries should appear in person on Wednesday.

The relatives of the kidnapped Wapda employees had sent an application to PHC chief justice few days ago that was converted into a writ petition.

The workers were kidnapped by militants when they were on their way to Tank district from the dam site in South Waziristan Agency on Aug 15.

The militants also released two video footages, showing the eight employees pleading the government to accept the demands of the kidnappers.

The kidnapped men include Engineer Shahid Ali Khan, a mechanical supervisor Sanaullah, a cook Munir Khan, driver Siraj, a sanitation staffer Liaquat Khan, and three daily wage workers identified as Zeeshan, Zujaj and Siraj.

The kidnappers had earlier set a deadline of Dec 3 for killing the kidnapped persons, but on the request of their family members the deadline was relaxed.

Both male and female family members of the kidnapped persons appeared before the bench, which heard their case in chamber because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The relatives told journalists that they sent application to the PHC chief justice as they got disappointed with the government officials.

EX-OFFICIAL CONVICTED: An accountability court here on Tuesday convicted a former sub-divisional officer of works and services department, Mohammad Rafique, in a corruption reference and sentenced him to nine years rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs7.231 million.

The National Accountability Bureau (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) had filed reference against the convict for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The nine years imprisonment also included two years rigorous imprisonment for evading his lawful arrest and absconding for which NAB had also filed a separate reference under Section 31-A of National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

The prosecution stated that during his service the convict worked in various capacities with last appointment as SDO at works and services department in Peshawar.

NAB initiated investigations against him and finally filed a reference in the court of law in 2003. He did not appear in the court and fled the country. On his arrival, he was arrested at Lahore airport in 2008.