SAHIWAL, April 25: The union council No 41, Dadra Bala, nazim, together with his associates, had allegedly kidnapped three councillors of the opposition benches to foil the no-confidence move against him.

The nazim belongs to agriculture minister Arshad Khan Lodhi’s group. The naib nazim and seven councillors of the union council have protested against the behaviour of the minister and presented their resignations to the presiding officer (civil judge Malik Ahmad Saeed).

The opposition councillors had started a no-confidence move against UC-41 nazim Muhammad Ali of Lodhi Group. Muhammad Ali, along with his 10 accomplices, allegedly kidnapped three councillors — Ali Sher Saghla, Zeenat Bibi and Jamat Bibi — a week ago to foil the move.

As the kidnapped councillors did not appear at the time of voting on Wednesday, the no-confidence move failed.

Speaking at a press conference in Dadra House (Harappa), naib nazim Mehr Mazhar Abbas protested over Arshad Lodhi’s apathy and said the three councillors had been detained at an unknown place.

He alleged that the police did not take action against the kidnappers owing to pressure by the provincial minister and he (the naib nazim) and other councillors — Manzoor Ahmad, Faiz Muhammad Sahu, Saeed Masih, Maqsood Dhakkoo, Muhammad Nawaz, Sagheeran and Zainab Bibi — had tendered resignations in protest.

Naveed Lodhi, the son-in-law of Arshad Lodhi, denied his group’s involvement in any kidnap and said the councillors had not turned up at the meeting for some other reasons and, therefore, the no-trust move stood failed.