PESHAWAR: The parents of arrested tribesmen of Jannat Shah and Banda villages in Bajaur Agency have complained that they made several appeals to the relevant high-ups including Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra to help release their innocent and ailing relatives but all their pleas fell on deaf ears. Talking to The News, they said that officials of the political administration and security forces had arrested over 28 innocent tribesmen, some of them chronic patients, following an explosion in Rashakai area in Khar tehsil recently. The security forces, they said, released the arrested tribesmen after preliminary investigation but the political administration had kept the innocent tribesmen in illegal detention. The parents of Mian Ajab Gul, Mian Sharifullah and Azizullah said that their sons were severely ill and had been under medical treatment for the last several months. Mian Sharifullah had recently undergone a medical surgery while Azizullah is a cardiac patient, who has recently came to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia to start medication for his ailment here. A family member said that wife of Alam Shah was also ill. She was admitted to Agency Headquarters Hospital in Khar where doctors had advised Alam Shah to take her to a hospital in Peshawar due to her precarious condition. However, he said Alam Shah was arrested in the meantime when he was making arrangements for taking his wife to Peshawar for treatment. “The condition of Alam Shah’s wife deteriorated when she heard about the arrest of her husband. Now she is writhing in pain but there is no one to take her to Peshawar for treatment,” he added. Parents of Himayatullah, Muhammad Idrees, Pachai Gul, Zahir Khan, Shahab, Naeem, Rozamin and others also said that their sons had committed no crime and were law-abiding citizens. They said their families were going through severe mental agony and hardships. They again made a plea to governor to take notice of the plights of arrested tribesmen’s families and order the political agent of Bajaur Agency to release their relatives.
