A day of violence: Schoolteacher kidnapped from Hangu

Armed men wearing security forces’ uniforms came to Aliabad and took four people with them to an unknown location

HANGU/ PESHAWAR:

Unidentified armed men dressed as security officials kidnapped four people, including a Shia schoolteacher, from Hangu on Sunday, however, three men were released later that day.

City DSP Falak Nawaz Bangash told The Express Tribune armed men wearing security forces’ uniforms came to Aliabad in a vehicle and took four people with them to an unknown location. Bangash identified the four men as Riaz, Qasim, Ismail Khan and schoolteacher Hayatullah.

According to Bangash, three of the men were later released but Hayatullah was not among them. Hayatullah’s father Abdullah Jan said the area’s residents did not resist because they assumed the men were security officials. However, when they contacted the local police, they learnt that no raids had been conducted by the security forces or the police. Jan then filed a report of the incident.

DSP Bangash said this was the first time armed men had used official uniforms to carry out their activities in Hangu. He added an investigation is under way.

Man gunned down

A man identified as Namitullah was gunned down by unidentified men in Marod Khel, Hangu city on Monday. An official of city police said the man was standing in front of his house in the morning when two armed men approached on a motorbike and opened fire, killing him on the spot. The motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained.

Kidnapping attempt foiled

Doaba police foiled the kidnapping of an eight-year-old boy and arrested the alleged kidnappers.

Amirullah Khan, an official of Doaba police, said they received a report that armed people had kidnapped a boy identified as Faraz Khan, son of Khyal Mohammad. Following this, security was beefed up at check posts and based on suspicion a car was stopped at Mamo Khwar check post. According to Khan, the boy was rescued and three kidnappers, including a woman, were held. Khan added a case has been filed and further investigation is under way.

Body found

Separately, a tribal elder kidnapped three years ago was found dead in his hometown of Manatoo in Kurram Agency.

An official of the political administration said on March 30, 2011 elder Malik Najibuddin was on his way home late evening when unidentified armed men approached him in a car and kidnapped him. Since then Najibuddin’s whereabouts were not known.

On Monday morning, his bullet-riddled body was found by the roadside, said the political administration official. Kurram Levies shifted the body to the administration’s office and then handed it over to the family. Najibullah was a social activist and had been involved in paving the way for peace in the region by resolving sectarian conflicts, the official added. An investigation into the elder’s kidnapping and subsequent murder is under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2014.