NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Unidentified armed men abducted Shawal tehsildar Javedullah Wazir, who was travelling in his vehicle here on Monday. However, he was reportedly released later.

According to district administration officials, Javedullah Wazir was travelling on the Mir Ali bypass road when masked armed men stopped his vehicle and forcibly took him away. The incident created fear and panic in the area.

After the incident, deputy commissioner North Waziristan, Muhammad Yousaf Kareem, said that the district administration was taking all possible measures to ensure safe recovery of the official. Security forces and law enforcement agencies were put on alert and a search operation was launched to trace the abducted official.

According to sources, the abduction occurred when the tehsildar was returning after his routine official duty. Following the incident, security has been further tightened in the area and checking at key points has been increased.

The tehsildar was released three hours later, but his vehicle and weapons were yet to be recovered.

This incident has occurred at a time when North Waziristan is already facing serious challenges regarding the law and order situation. It may be mentioned here that 10 days earlier, there also was an attempt to abduct the assistant commissioner of Razmak in the same area, but after two hours of strong resistance, the AC was released while his vehicle and weapons were taken away.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2025