Joint operation: Sikh trader freed after firefight near border

One tribal guard killed, two Levies personnel injured in encounter

QUETTA: Security forces and tribal guards rescued a Sikh trader on Saturday after engaging his kidnappers in a fierce gun battle. The trader was kidnapped around two months earlier from the Dalbandin area of Balochistan.

The gunfight took place in a remote area near the Pak-Afghan border in Chagai district. A tribal guard was killed while three others, including two Balochistan Levies’ personnel, were injured in the encounter.

At a news conference held later in Dalbandin, Balochistan Assembly member Amanullah Notezai and Chaghi’s Deputy Commissioner Saifullah Kethran said the trader, Sardar Manesh Singh, was freed as a result of a joint operation by the Balochistan Levies, Frontier Corps and Notezai’s guards.

“The kidnappers shot dead Notezai’s personal guard, Sanaullah Notezai, and injured a tribal leader, Haji Mir Athaullah Notezai as well as Levies sepoy Abdul Qadir and Shamsuddin,” Kethran said.

He said after the encounter the kidnappers managed to flee from the scene, apparently unhurt. “However, they left behind the Sikh trader, who was later rescued,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion MPA Notezai said he was also caught in the firing. “I narrowly escaped the exchange of fire,” said Notezai, who is also the tribal elder of the area.

District Police Officer Mubarrak Shah and Assistant Commissioner Razzaq Sasoli were accompanying the MPA at the news conference. The Sikh trader was kidnapped about 52 days ago from Dalbandin by a group of armed men, who had later demanded ransom.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2015.