TANK: About 22 labourers, who had been kidnapped from Neeli Kach area of South Waziristan Agency earlier last month, were released early on Thursday by their unidentified abductors, authorities said.

Officials confirmed that the kidnapped labourers were brought to the political administration compound in Tank district in the small hours of Thursday. All of them were in good condition, they said, adding that kidnappers freed them without demanding any ransom.

The labourers, who were working for a civil contractor constructing a road in Neeli Kach area of South Waziristan, were kidnapped by unidentified persons on October 23. The kidnappers had then shifted them to some undisclosed location.

Political authorities said that kidnapped labourers were set free in Kot Khadak area in the limits of Gomal Bazaar police station at around 1am. “The labourers were taken to political administration compound in strict security after they were released by the abductors,” said an official.

Earlier Mehsud tribesmen had constituted a jirga to ensure safe recovery of the abducted workers while political authorities also formed a 12-member jirga of the Dray Mehsud -- three clans of the Mehsud tribe -- and tasked it to utilise all possible resources to make their release possible.

Sources said that despite making hectic efforts, the jirgas failed to make contact with the kidnappers as no group had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping incident.

It is still not clear as to who kidnapped the labourers and where they were detained during this period. Political authorities said that the workers were allowed to go home after questioning.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015