Bannu elders demand action against ‘kidnappers’

BANNU: The elders of Khujri tribe on Sunday set a 24 hours deadline to the government to arrest the alleged kidnappers of a trader of their tribe or else they would launch a strong protest movement for their rights.

A local trader of Bannu Sher Baz Khan along with the elders, including Chief of Khujri, Malik Sheroz Khan, Malik Jahanzeb Khan, Akhtar Ali Shah, and other tribal elders, told a press conference that they would take to the streets if the kidnappers were not arrested forthwith.

Sher Baz narrated his ordeal that one Aamir Durrani along with two unidentified accomplices bundled him in a car outside his house and kidnapped him to an unknown place via the Garhi Sher Ahmad Khan Road.

He said that the kidnappers subjected him to torture, seized his mobile phone and Rs200,000 in cash, and transferred approximately Rs13,000 from his EasyPaisa account to their own mobile.

“They also snatched my car keys at gunpoint and demanded a ransom of Rs10 million,” he alleged, adding that they finally agreed to settle for Rs3 million and released him at an unknown location, from where he managed to return home via local transport.

Sher Baz rejected a video shared on social media and clarified that he had recently returned from performing Umrah and could never engage in such wrongful acts.He also called for transparent action against the woman.The elders demanded the arrest of the suspects within 24 hours or else they would launch a protest movement.