PESHAWAR, Sept 29: The law enforcement agencies arrested a student of University of Peshawar for his alleged links with Taliban, sources said.

“The student presently being interrogated by a law enforcement agency is believed to have hand in the kidnapping of Mohammad Ajmal Khan, the Vice-chancellor of Islamia College University,” they added.

The vice-chancellor was kidnapped on Sept 7 in his official car along with his driver when he was going to the office from his residence in Professors Colony. He is still missing.

“A first year student of geology department of UoP, who has been arrested few days ago, has provided us some lead regarding the whereabouts of the kidnapped vice-chancellor,” officials said.

They said that although the suspected student was arrested for his involvement in the kidnapping of Ajmal Khan, yet during the interrogation he revealed that he had also been associated with the militants.

They said that some two months ago, the student had gone missing and his father had lodged a report with the police.

“However, the man didn't inform police about the recovery of his son due to which there are suspicion that he might have proceeded for getting training in Waziristan,” they said.

Police said that they arrested a resident of Attock district near Karkhano Market in connection with the vice-chancellor kidnapping the day he was abducted. Sources said that they had also intercepted SMS sent by the arrested student in connection with the vice-chancellor.

Senior Superintendent of Police Ijaz Khan, when contacted, expressed ignorance regarding the arrest of the student. “May be police have arrested a suspected person in the vice-chancellor kidnapping case,” he said.

It is worth mentioning that several students of the professional colleges and universities have also been found involved in the acts of terrorism during the recent past.

The students' involvement in the sabotage acts first surfaced on February 19 when two persons were killed and two other sustained injured while allegedly making a bomb in a shop in Gur Mandi area in the limits of Hashtnagri police station.

On the next day of the incident, police claimed that the killed and injured persons were students and the bomb had blown up accidentally.

Hamza Ameen, a student of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad, and another unidentified person were killed in the incident while Farman and Mohammad Ali, students of Khyber Medical College Peshawar and University of Engineering and Technology had sustained critical injuries. According to police, they were involved in blowing up of internet cafes and CD shops in the capital city.

Similarly, police had also arrested Ali Raza, a student of the journalism department of University of Peshawar, in 2008, saying he was a would-be suicide bomber. However, police released him after investigation when he was declared innocent.

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