SWABI: The residents of Kunda and Anbar villages on Saturday blocked the Swabi-Jehangira road here to demand immediate recovery of the two friends who were kidnapped from the district headquarters four days ago.

The protesters, led by Qaumi Watan Party leaders and former union council nazims, marched on the road, blocking it to all kind of traffic while chanting slogans for the recovery of the two persons.

The protesters said that Rawaid Khan, brother of QWP leader Zain Khan and his friend, Waheed Rasool, were taken away by unidentified gunmen at Karnal Sher Khan Chowk while going to Swabi adda in their car.

The kidnappers bundled them into their own car and took them to an undisclosed location. Rawaid belongs to Anbar village and Mr Rasool to Kunda village.

Their relatives said that they didn’t know about the whereabouts of the kidnapped persons.

The protesters alleged that they had approached the police soon after the incident, but they failed to take prompt action for recovery of the missing friends. An FIR was also registered in the city police station against the unidentified abductors, they added.

The people said that the abductors had not yet contacted the grief-ridden families.

Meanwhile, MPA Abdul Karim and Asad Qaisar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker, along with police officials reached there and held talks with the protesters to end the agitation as they assured them to trace out the missing friends within two days. After the assurance, the protesters dispersed peacefully.

Mr Karim said that it was responsibility of the government to provide security to the people and condemned the police failure to recover the two friends.

GIRL KILLED: A seven-year-old girl was killed when a truck hit her on the Swabi-Mardan road on Saturday, said police.

Eyewitnesses said that the girl was crossing the road when the truck hit her. She died on the spot.

The truck driver escaped the spot after the incident. The victim’s father lodged a case in the city police station against the driver.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2014