MINGORA: Taliban kidnapped the new District Coordination Officer of Swat, Khushhal Khan, on Sunday, but claimed that he was their guest and they had picked him up for “discussing important matters”.

A Taliban spokesman said late in the night that the official and his guards had been freed.

“We have released the official and his six guards in exchange for our two colleagues,” the spokesman, Muslim Khan, said.“The government has released our two men and they will soon release another. The government violated the agreement by arresting our men in Peshawar and killing one in Dir. Therefore, we had to do this,” he said.

The official was going to Mingora to take charge from his predecessor Shaukat Yousufzai when militants stopped his vehicle and took him and his guards to their centre in Qamber.

Despite a ceasefire, militants wearing masks have been patrolling the main road and they have set up checkpoints for vehicles.

This was the first incident of kidnapping of a senior government official in the valley after the NWFP government signed an agreement with Sufi Mohammad, the chief of the banned Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM), in Peshawar last Monday.

Malakand Commissioner Syed Mohammad Javed downplayed the incident and said the authorities were in contact with the official.

The Taliban spokesman had earlier admitted that Mr Khan had been “stopped for consultation on important issues”. “The DCO has not been kidnapped. He is our guest.”

Meanwhile, local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah announced that girls would be allowed to sit their annual exams.

The private schools’ association in Swat announced that all educational institutions in the area would open from Monday and a spokesman urged girls to go to their schools.

Agencies add: “Such actions are detrimental to peace in the region,” NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.

The militants’ spokesman had said: “He was in our area, so we consider him our guest and after serving him with tea,” he would continue his journey.

An intelligence official told AFP: “There are a lot of things which need to be settled after the agreement on sharia and militants might have done this to send a message to the administration not to venture deep into Taliban areas.”

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had instructed authorities to ensure an early and safe recovery of the administrator and his guards.

“The prime minister also directed the law enforcement agencies to keep a strict vigil on anti-state elements who wanted to impede the government’s efforts for restoration of peace and tranquillity in Swat and adjoining areas,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

In Mingora, Maulana Sufi Mohammad held a meeting with his advisers and discussed the situation in Swat, restoration of peace and imposition of sharia, his spokesman Ameer Izzat said.

“The maulana also took his advisers into confidence on negotiations with Fazlullah,” he added.

People said life was returning to normal in the town under the temporary ceasefire. “Markets are crowded and traffic police are back on the roads,” a man said. “You feel at ease when going out... We can sleep fearlessly.

The dreadful gunfire we used to hear every night has ended. People are returning to their homes and several families in my neighbourhood have come back,” he said.

Regional police chief Shaukat Hayat asked all personnel who had fled during the unrest to return to duty.