PESHAWAR, Jan 23: Authorities on Friday appeared to have found leads to kidnappers of Punjab Sports and Culture Minister Naeemullah Shahani.

An emergency cell has been set up in the Frontier Region (FR) Bannu to start the search operation against accused believed to be hailing from Bannu, sources said.

The sources told Dawn that negotiations with kidnappers were under way through local intermediaries to know whereabouts of Mr Shahani. "Authorities have identified the possible kidnappers and they are holding negotiations for release of the minister. But, they are still in the dark about where the minister is being kept," they said.

Home Secretary Abdul Karim Qasuria and North Waziristan Agency Political Administrator Sher Zada Khan rushed to the FR Bannu to coordinate efforts to recover Mr Shahani, who went missing in the area on Jan 10.

A computer operator in the political agent's office of North Waziristan told officials that he and other colleagues had seen Mr Shahani going out of the tribal agency on Jan 10.

Initially, the administration hoped that Mr Shahani had been kept in Karkarwam, a notorious areas between North Waziristan and FR Bannu, and held many persons of Torikhel tribe for interrogation, but efforts ended in futility.