PESHAWAR, May 24: A resident of Sanghar district in Sindh was released from a lock-up in Jamrud on Friday after having remained in custody for about six years under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, apparently for no offence.

Ali Asghar first remained for over a year in the captivity of a tribesman, who had a monetary dispute with some residents of Sindh. Later, the tribal administration took him away to keep him behind bars to-date.

Ali Asghar was finally released after he furnished bail bonds.

A social welfare organization of the Khyber Agency, Zwan Pakhtoon Ghund (Young Pakhtoon Group), played an important role in his release.

Ali Asghar told newsmen that he had come to the Khyber Agency in 1996 with a friend on a recreation trip.

He said that in Choora area, some members of Malik Deenkhel tribe made him captive, saying they had some dispute with their business partners in Sindh and would settle it with his detention.

Asghar said that he remained in their captivity for more than a year. Finally, a khasadar of the tribal administration spotted him in their captivity and informed the authorities. He added that the administration raided his place of captivity and took him to a lock-up in Jamrud.

“Since then I remained in custody of the tribal administration,” he said, adding the administration had told him that he would remain in their custody till the dispute between his earlier captives and their business partners was resolved.

ZPG chief Ikramullah Kokikhel, who accompanied the detainee, claimed that in January he had also been arrested and sent to the same lock-up where he met Ali Asghar. Kokikhel said that after his release he launched efforts for the release of Ali Asghar. Finally, he said, Assistant Political Agent Arshid Majeed and Tehsildar Riaz Mahsud agreed that Ali Asghar was innocent.

Ali Asghar, 32, stated that his mother was an old woman and he was not sure what would be her condition in his absence. “We were kept in inhuman conditions and given less to eat,” Ali Asghar said, adding there were some other detainees who, like him, were not aware of their crime.

An official in Jamrud Tehsil claimed that under the FCR the administration was empowered to detain any person who was a threat to public peace.

The official added that he was not aware about the presence of any such innocent detainee as all the detained persons were involved in different offences.