Negotiating with abductors: PHC orders clubbing kidnapping cases

Referred to Peshawar High Court chief justice to be heard on September 18.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday ordered to club the cases of kidnapped Gomal Zam Dam workers and former vice chancellor (VC) of Islamia College University Ajmal Khan.

The order was issued by a division bench comprising Justice Malik Manzoor Hussain and Justice Ikramllah Khan after the court was told Ajmal Khan’s abductors had released a new video in which the vice chancellor appeals for his safe release.

The court was told both cases pertain to North or South Waziristan, following which it asked elected representatives to negotiate with the Taliban and solve the problem peacefully. “What will be the position and status of the government if the court ordered it to negotiate with the militants who kidnapped the former VC and workers of the Gomal Zam Dam project,” Justice Hussain asked the lawyer of petitioner Iqbal Mohmand.

MNA from South Waziristan Maulana Jamaluddin, however, replied saying the situation in Waziristan was not suitable for such advances. “I hardly go outside my house; how can they negotiate with kidnappers?” questioned the elected representative.



The court then referred both cases to PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and adjourned the hearing till September 18.

Eight Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) employees working on the Gomal Zam Dam project were abducted while returning home from DI Khan in August 2012. Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) later claimed responsibility and demanded ransom along with the release of high-profile militants from prison.

On June 6, assistant political agent of South Waziristan told a PHC division bench the process of recovering the kidnapped workers slowed down after a drone strike in North Waziristan.

Former VC of Islamia College University was kidnapped on September 7, 2010 from the Professors Colony adjacent to University of Peshawar. So far, three videos of Ajmal Khan have been released by the abductors, but the government has yet to take any action.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2013.