PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court’s chief justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Wednesday gave a week’s deadline to the authorities for the recovery of the kidnapped employees of the Gomal Zam Dam project who had been abducted in Aug 2012 by militants from Tank.

The chief justice, heading a two-member bench, directed Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Masood Kausar, the interior ministry and the Fata authorities to ensure the safe and early recovery of the employees even if a fully-fledged operation was needed.

The court contended that in the presence of a large number of security personnel and military operations in Fata such kidnappings were unthinkable.

Earlier, family members of the employees had requested the authorities to take steps and use all options available for the recovery of the eight employees.

The family members of the kidnapped officials have been running from pillar to post appealing to the authorities for the recovery of their loved ones but so far no concrete results have emerged.

The eight officials were kidnapped from the Tank-Wana road as they were on their way from Gomal Zam Dam to Dera Ismail Khan for Eidul Fitr holidays on Aug 15. Besides Sub-Divisional Officer Shahid Ali Khan, a resident of Swat, and Sub-Engineer Sanaullah, the abducted men include four security personnel and two other staffers.

Earlier, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had released a video which showed the eight project employees.