Talking to Dawn in his native village Imam Dheri on Wednesday, Maulana Fazalullah

said that his followers signalled a double-cabin pickup to stop

at a checkpoint they had

established on the Nangoti-Matta Road on Tuesday night, but the driver ignored it and kept going on. He said that the pick-up disappeared in the Kanju area.

The Maulana said that his followers did not abandon the search and spotted the pickup again on Wednesday.

It was intercepted near the Kolanj village and the three men travelling in it were captured. Upon being questioned, they revealed that five of their accomplices were hiding in the Kolanj village, and added that two kidnapped women were also there.

Eyewitnesses said that about 400 armed followers of the cleric laid siege to the village and warned the people over loudspeakers against giving shelter to the kidnappers. After some time, the villagers handed over the five men and the women to Fazalullah’s followers, who brought them to Imam Dheri in the afternoon.

The kidnappers had abducted the two women during an attack on the house of one Qambar Khan from the Tokhara village on Sept 30. Qambar Khan was killed in the attack.

Maulana Fazalullah said that his followers had established checkpoints in different areas

to control the mounting incidents of lawlessness as the police were confined to the police station due to attacks on security forces, bomb explosions,

car-lifting and kidnappings in the area.