MIANWALI, July 29: Crime in the tribal area continues to hit the poor, with the recent kidnap of a minor girl exposing the helplessness of law enforcers.

Narrating the incident of kidnap, Gul Bibi, a resident of Wandha Zatokhel (Isakhel tehsil), told Dawn that a few days ago she, along with her sister Kashmina Bibi and daughter Shagmina Bibi, who is 12, went to fields to cut wild grass from mountains for the cattle. In the meantime, seven armed men came there and picked her daughter up, also thrashing the two women on resistance.

The armed men took the girl towards mountain area, said the Pushto-speaking woman, flanked by her husband Awal Khan and Advocate Khalilur Rehman Khan, a rights activist. Claiming that one of the kidnappers wanted to marry her daughter, she said her husband reported the matter to the Makarwal police who registered a case under sections 365-B, 148 and 149 of PPC against Sorat Amin, Sher Khan, Gharib Shah, Maskin Shah, Gul Hameed, Mustafa and Sanaullah.

According to Gul Bibi, they had turned down Sher Khan’s proposal because of the fact that the girl is too young to be married. Sher Khan, however, kidnapped the minor to teach them a lesson.

She alleged that the police were taking no interest in the case and most of the tribal area inhabitants, being illiterate and living in abject poverty, were unable to get justice from any quarter.

Makarwal SHO (Inspector) Zafar Iqbal told this reporter that it was a hard nut to crack for the police to arrest the culprits from mountainous area. They have, however, arrested some relatives of the culprits to pressure them to surrender.

He said they had constant contact with the Karak police (NWFP) because the mountainous area falls in both Punjab and the Frontier provinces.

Meanwhile, in keeping with the traditions of area, a congregation of elders is sitting today (Wednesday) at Wandha Zatokhel to solve the dispute, the SHO said.