Professor in Taliban’s captivity again appeals for release

A professor of a university in Peshawar held captive by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has again appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to accept the militants’ demands for his release.

In a new video received on Thursday, Professor Ajmal Khan, vice-chancellor of the Islamia College University (ICU), called out to Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, the Peshawar High Court, the governor and the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to ensure his release from the Taliban’s captivity.

Khan, who was abducted two years ago, said his health was deteriorating day by day.

“It’s been more than two-and-a-half years that I am in captivity but no concrete steps have been taken by the government for my release,” he said, speaking in Pashto in the-two-and-a-half-minute video.

The VC was kidnapped from Professors Colony on Peshawar’s University Road in September 2010. The TTP had demanded the release of four Taliban prisoners in exchange of his release but the government had refused the offer.

Prof Khan is also a close relative of the ANP chief and had been a staunch supporter of the war against militancy.

The TTP had threatened to kill the professor in case the government failed to accept their demands and an earlier deadline had been extended by militants after appeals by his family and religious scholars hailing from Khan’s native Charsadda district.