SUKKUR, March 17: Local journalists observed a token hunger strike at the press club here on Wednesday in protest against police failure to recover newsman Shahbaz Pathan and his companion Naveed Mangi who were kidnapped 15 days ago.

The protesting journalists said that Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar had told a delegation of journalists in Rohri some 10 days back that police had identified the gang behind the kidnapping and that the journalist and his companion would be recovered in 72 hours.

Meanwhile the president of the Sukkur Press Club, Shamim Shamsi, and general secretary, Lala Asad Pathan, have sent a memorandum to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali and the Sindh governor, appealing to them to order the Sindh government and Sindh police to take action against the gang of kidnappers and recover the journalist and his friend.

ARRESTED: The Mehrabpur police recovered 108 pieces of rail track from a truck on the National Highway and arrested two persons the other day.