The power supply company public relations officer Mohammad Anwar Marwat confirmed to The Express Tribune on Saturday that the six employees were disconnecting electricity lines in Alhaj Market in the Sardar Ghari area around 11:30am when unidentified armed men came and kidnapped them along with their vehicle on Saturday.
“Our staff had gone to Sardar Ghari several times before for disconnecting the electricity supply and this is the first time that such an incident has taken place in Khyber Agency,” the official said.
Describing it a sad incident, he said that it was premature to say anything about the motive behind the incident.
The kidnapped employees are Line Superintendent Sabir Mohammad, linemen Umar Hayat, Fateh Mohammad, assistant linemen Niaz Ali, Aftab Hussain and Jan Mohammad.
The official explained that the kidnapped personnel were the staffs of Alam Godar sub division and deputed to disconnect the supply of defaulters.
“Several TESCO workers have been kidnapped from the tribal areas. Executive Engineer Abdur Rehman was kidnapped in 2008, Sub- Divisional Officer Mohammad Irshad was kidnapped from Mohmand Agency and there are others as well”.
Workers of TESCO came under attack in the Alam Godar area of Tehsil Bara in 2010 when three workers were injured”.
Due to security reasons, curfew has been imposed in Bara since 2009, preventing locals from meeting their relatives.
According to sources, the TESCO employees did not inform the political administration or security force of their presence in the area, something that could have kept the staffers safe.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2011.
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