LAYYAH, Nov 3: Hundreds of people blocked Layyah-Karore Road at Chungi Mor in protest against the failure of police to arrest the gunmen of the provincial agriculture minister and a member of the Punjab Assembly (MPA) for their alleged involvement in kidnap-for-ransom incidents.

Gunmen kidnapped landlord Muhammad Bari, of Buchiwala, Mukhtiar Husain and Zulfiqar on Friday. Karore and Bhakkar police chased the kidnappers and besieged them in the area along the River Indus. After a brief exchange of fire, the kidnappers released Mukhtar and Zulfiqar and fled to the NWFP.

Later, they were arrested by Proya police in Dera Ismael Khan. The alleged kidnappers said Faiz Sehar, the gunman of Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulakh, and Shada Shah, the gunman of MPA Safdar Abbas Bhatti, were also their accomplices.

After the police failure to arrest the accused gunmen, hundreds of residents of Kacha area blocked the road.

A protester, Chaudhry Athar Maqbool, told Dawn the kidnappers had been operating in the area for many years with connivance of the gunmen. He said they had informed the district police officer about the situation several times but to no avail.

MPA Bhatti said he had never employed Faiz Sehar as his gunman. Mr Auolakh’s younger brother Umer Ali said they were law-abiding people and had never protected any person involved in heinous crime.