PESHAWAR, March 12: A soldier of Pakistan Army, who had allegedly been kidnapped for ransom, was released in the wee hours of Friday.

A group of armed men had kidnapped Mohammad Tariq of the Engineering Corps at gunpoint from an under-construction school in Sheen Qamar Area of Tehsil Bara, Khyber Agency on March 2.

He was shifted to an unknown place. At the time of kidnapping, his colleague had received injuries as he put up resistance.

Later, the political administration of Khyber Agency exerted pressure to compel the accused to release the army soldier.

In the meantime, a jirga comprising Malik Waris Khan Afridi, Haji Douran Gul Afridi, Haji Malik Nadir Shah Zakhakheil and Malik Mehmood negotiated with the suspected group of kidnappers. After a long process of negotiations, the kidnapped jawan was released on Friday morning.

The administration was planning to launch an operation to arrest the people involved in the case. -PPI