Three labourers’ lives at stake

Authorities yet to form jirga to hold talks with militants regarding the release of abducted labourers.

PESHAWAR: The fate of three labourers from Upper Dir district who were kidnapped from a forest in Chitral by Taliban militants hangs in the balance following the killings of three abductees by the kidnappers on September 9.

Sources told The Express Tribune that an informal jirga was sent to the Nuristan province of Afghanistan, where the militants had taken the kidnapped labourers. However, no immediate release was in sight, they added. They further said that the jirga was formed by the former union council nazim of Ayun, Abdul Majeed, on the directions of district coordination officer (DCO) in Chitral.

Majeed had sent people, whose relatives lived across the border, to approach the kidnappers but the militants did not offer any guarantees to the jirga. Sources said that the militants were demanding the release of some of their men who had been arrested by members of a local lashkar during a military operation in the area. However, it was not clear how many militants’ release they were demanding.

However, authorities are yet to form a formal jirga to hold talks with militants regarding the release of the abducted labourers.

The kidnapped workers belonged to Doag Darra area of Upper Dir district. They were employed by a local contractor to harvest timber in Asholgah forest in Chitral district.

Earlier, last year, the villagers of Doag Darra had formed a lashkar against militants holed up in the remote area of Dir to force them to flee the village. Sources said that as per initial reports, at least ten labourers were kidnapped on August 29 and four of them were released close to the Pak-Afghan border, but there was no word on their whereabouts. However, authorities in Chitral say that the number of kidnapped persons was only six.

Six of the kidnapped were shifted to Nuristan, which has become a militant stronghold, a source said. Corpses of three abductees were recovered by the local police on September 9 in the Gawardesh forest in Afghanistan.

A report sent by the Dir DCO to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa home and tribal affairs department said that the slaughtered labourers were members of a local peace committee, which played a crucial role in forcing out militants from the area. The slain volunteers of the local lashkar were identified as Mohammad Rasool, Misal Khan and Mohammad Zaman.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2010.