PESHAWAR, Aug 2: The Indus Highway remained blocked for traffic in Lakki Marwat district, some 200 kilometres south of here, for the second consecutive day on Monday as Marwat tribesmen kept the body of a kidnapped man on the road and demanded strict action against the perpetrators of the crime.

Thousands of passengers travelling between Peshawar and Karachi and other southern cities remained stranded and hundreds of vehicles queued up on both sides of the blockade near Malang Adda on the main road.

The protesters placed tree trunks and logs on the main road and also blocked all the side-roads for traffic. They burnt old tyres at various points along the road to protest the killing.

They vowed that they would neither bury the body nor open the road for traffic unless a final action was initiated against the kidnappers. The Indus Highway linking Peshawar with Karachi was blocked on Sunday morning after the stiffened body of a kidnap victim was found by the Khasadar force near Tajori in the Bhettani tribe area on Saturday, officials said.

A letter by the kidnappers was also found on the body which threatened that more kidnapped people would be put to death if the Marwat tribe did not pay them ransom. The victim was identified as Mir Ajab Khan and 13 other people, including two sisters and an FC man, had been kidnapped by a gang of outlaws, known as Arsal Group, in January 2004.

In April and May, the authorities had launched an operation in the FR Lakki Marwat areas for the recovery of 14 people, but the kidnappers killed a man and a woman in reaction to the operation and threatened to kill more if the operation was not stopped.

Three other kidnap victims had escaped from the captivity as the law enforcers intensified the operation and the Marwat tribe also formed a lashkar to move against the kidnappers and recover the kidnapped victims.

The gang led by Arsala Khan of the Bhettani tribe was wanted in 25 different crimes of heinous nature, police officials said. The stranded passengers faced severe difficulties in the scorching heat as the protesters remained adamant to open the road. A number of children and women had also reportedly fainted due to the extreme heat and humidity.

Officials of the district administration and FR Lakki Marwat held several rounds of talks with the protesters led by MNA Maulana Amanullah Khan and elders of the Marwat tribe to open the road, but they refused to lift the blockade unless the remaining eight kidnapped persons were recovered safely.

Eye-witnesses said that the blockade continued on Sunday and was not lifted till filing of this report on Monday. A number of passengers and drivers returning to Peshawar from the blockade point said that armed protesters had occupied all the side-roads to prevent public and private transport.

The driver of a Dera Ismail Khan-bound coaster said that they had reached the blockade at around 1.30am, and decided to return to Peshawar after the passengers disembarked from the vehicle and started their journey on foot.

He said that a great rush of passengers and vehicles was witnessed in the hotels and restaurants along the road. A Lakki Marwat police official told Dawn that high- ranking officials of the district and FR were negotiating with the protesters to lift the blockade.