Abducted Gomal Zam Dam workers: Drone strike hinders negotiations with kidnappers

PHC seeks sealed minutes from a meeting held with K-P governor over the matter.

PESHAWAR:

The process of retrieving eight abducted Gomal Zam Dam workers slowed down after the recent drone strike in North Waziristan Agency (NWA), South Waziristan Agency’s (SWA) political administration informed the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday.

Some nine Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) employees working on the Gomal Zam Dam project in SWA were kidnapped in August 2012 by unidentified armed men. In addition to a ransom demand, the abductors also sought the release of high-profile militants in custody. One employee of the Frontier Works Organisation working at the site was later said to be killed.

During the hearing on Thursday, SWA Assistant Political Officer Hamidullah told a division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Roohul Amin the drone attack panicked local tribesmen and the process for negotiations between them and the abductors could not proceed further.

The bench pointed out the workers had been kidnapped last year. It also inquired about the minutes of a meeting held with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Shaukatullah Khan for the recovery of the abducted employees.



Deputy Attorney General Iqbal Mohmand informed the court the meeting had been attended by secretary law and order Fata, Wapda employees, Wapda chairman, and manager finance.

Mohmand, however, refused to share the minutes since they contained sensitive information. “It contains some very sensitive information and cannot be shared in open court,” he explained. Upon this, the bench directed Mohmand to submit a sealed copy of the minutes to the court within three days.

Wapda officials, K-P governor secretariat and political administration of North and South Waziristan agencies were later ordered to expedite the recovery of the abducted workers before July 2 and were told to consider this a last chance.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2013.