Khattak Ittehad, a local non-political rights organisation of Khattak tribe, blocked the Indus Highway at Amberi Kalay for all kinds of traffic for two and a half hours on Saturday and also detained three men and five vehicles belonging to the Wazir tribe as the organisation protested against the kidnapping of two of their men by the Wazir tribe. The detained were, however, released in a while.
Addressing protestors, KI district president Maulana Mirzaqeem, former MNA Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz, district general secretary Malik Zafar Azam, former Jamaitul Ulema Islam (F) district president Maulana Ameer Shehzada, Brig (Retd) Sakhi Marjan, Captain (Retd) Ahmad Jan, Noor Muhammad and former union council Nazimeen Khushal Muhammad and Noor Islam accused the district administration of miserably failing to provide security to people.
Protesters resolved that the strike would continue until the kidnapped were released and said that the district administration and the provincial government would be responsible for any unpleasant incident. They said that the Wazir tribe was kidnapping Khattak tribe men daily for ransom, adding that they would not allow them to continue with this illegal and inhuman business.
They said the Khattak tribe would take revenge by kidnapping Wazir tribe’s men and warned of an armed strike next time. No one from the district administration visited the troubled area to negotiate with the tribe as protesters had to postpone their strike till September 27.
Meanwhile, Tehsil Takht tehsildar Nusrati Ghazi Khan and two senior Khattak Ittehad members including Muhammad Wali Zahid and Haji Noor Islam visited Bannu to negotiate with the administration of district Bannu and elders of Wazir tribe. However, nothing was agreed in the negotiations and another session would now be held to resolve the issue peacefully.