LANDI KOTAL, July 28: The chief of banned militant outfit Lashkar-i-Islam, Mangal Bagh, has asked the displaced businessmen, doctors, teachers and Sikh families from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency to return to their homes.

In a speech on his illegal FM radio station from an undisclosed location, he said that its was imperative for all the traders, doctors and Sikhs to come back to Bara to restore lasting peace in the area.

“My organisation will ensure security of all those, who come back to Bara and restart their respective professions,” he said, adding that Lashkar-i-Islam wanted to contribute in the restoration of peace in Bara.

The Bara Bazaar and more than 200 government educational institutions and dozens of health centres had been closed since start of a military operation against Lashkar-i-Islam and other militant groups in Bara in September 2009.

Nearly 70,000 families from different localities of Bara were forced to shift to safer places owing to threats from militant groups and imposition of prolonged curfew in Bara during the last three and a half years.

More than 300 Sikh families, mostly residing in Kalanga-Akkakhel, Sikh Garhai and Alamgudar, opted to leave Bara in 2008 when Lashkar-i-Islam imposed a tax on them in lieu of providing security to them. A Sikh paramedic was kidnapped by militants and later beheaded on charges of spying for security forces in 2012 in Bazaar-Zakhakhel area.

Meanwhile, security forces released 95 persons, who were arrested during a search operation in different localities of Akkakhel in Bara during the last week. All the arrested tribesmen were kept in FC centres in Fort Salop, Shahkas and Jansi Fort for interrogation. —Correspondent